{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.sanders.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/sanders-cummings-request-doj-and-ftc-investigate-cost-of-diabetes-products", "Sanders, Cummings Request DOJ and FTC Investigate Cost of Diabetes Products", "2016-11-04", "2016", "2016-11", "Independent", "House", "VT", "Bernard Sanders", "S000033", "www.sanders.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "Sanders, Cummings Request DOJ and FTC Investigate Cost of Diabetes Products\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\tFriday, November 4, 2016\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\tWASHINGTON, Nov. 4 \u2013 Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) sent a letter Thursday asking the Justice Department and the Federal Trade Commission to investigate potential collusion\u00a0among pharmaceutical companies that manufacture diabetes products.\r\nThe prices of insulin medications, which are used by about 6 million Americans to treat diabetes, have skyrocketed in recent years. The cost of insulin more than tripled between 2002 and 2013, from $231 to $736 per year per patient.\r\n\u201cNot only have these pharmaceutical companies raised insulin prices significantly \u2013 sometimes by double digits overnight \u2013 in many instances the prices have increased in tandem,\u201d Sanders and Cummings wrote in the letter to\u00a0Attorney General Loretta Lynch and\u00a0Federal Trade Commission Chairwoman Edith Ramirez. \u201cWe are concerned that the potential coordination by these drug makers may not simply be a case of \u2018shadow pricing\u2019 but may indicate possible collusion.\u201d\r\nThree diabetes drug makers have continuously raised their prices over the years, and in numerous instances the price increases have mirrored one another precisely. In May 2014, Sanofi and Novo Nordisk each raised their prices for a vial of diabetes medication by 16.1 percent within a day of each other. Six months later, the companies both raised the medication price by 11.9 percent.\u00a0\u00a0There have been 13\u00a0reported\u00a0instances of such tandem price increases between those two companies since 2009.\r\nEli Lilly has also on several occasions matched price increases of its insulin products with Novo Nordisk. Eli Lilly and other companies have previously been fined in Mexico for colluding on insulin pricing.\r\n\u201cWe believe this egregious behavior warrants a thorough investigation,\u201d the members wrote.\r\nTo read the letter, click here.", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.sanders.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/sanders-cummings-request-doj-and-ftc-investigate-cost-of-diabetes-products"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.537460833787918, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}