A Congressional committee may subpoena the CEOs of Johnson & Johnson and Merck & Co. to testify about the differences between the costs of their drugs in the U.S. compared to other countries.
The statement from Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-VT, the chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, follows a vote to invite them to testify.
Bristol Myers Squibb CEO Christopher Boerner and “at least one other” chief executive has agreed to appear, the statement said. Five other CEOs have previously participated as well, including executives at Novo Nordisk, Eli Lilly and Moderna.
Merck and J&J have refused, however. As a result, the committee will meet on Jan. 31 to vote on a subpoena, which, according to Sanders, would be the first time that’s happened since 1981.
Sanders’ statement specifically calls out the U.S. prices of Merck’s diabetes drug Januvia and cancer immunotherapy Keytruda, as well as J&J’s lymphoma treatment Imbruvica and its HIV medicine Symtuza. Keytruda, for instance, costs $191,000 per year in the U.S. but $89,000 in Germany. J&J’s Imbruvica is priced at $204,000 in the U.S., but $46,000 in the U.K., the statement said.
“The pharmaceutical companies they run may make billions in profits,” said Sanders in the statement. “But that does not give them a right to evade congressional oversight. It is time to hold these pharmaceutical companies accountable for charging the American people the highest prices in the world for the medicine they need.”
In a Jan. 12 letter to Sanders, Brian Smith, a lobbyist with J&J’s D.C. law firm Covington & Burling, argued that it wasn’t appropriate for the company to testify because collaborator AbbVie sets Imbruvica’s prices. J&J also only holds U.S. rights to the blood thinner Xarelto, another drug under scrutiny. A third medicine the committee has flagged, Stelara, will lose a key patent in early 2025, paving the way for competition from biosimilars.
Merck General Counsel Jennifer Zachary, meanwhile, stated in a Jan. 12 letter that the drugmaker “is committed to working with the U.S. government to enable patient-focused innovation, value and access,” and has supported initiatives that lower out-of-pocket costs for Medicare beneficiaries.
Both companies also believe the hearing amounts to retaliation against drugmakers, many of which have sued the federal government to block the price negotiating power Medicare has received through the Inflation Reduction Act.
“Your insistence on the appearance of the CEOs at the hearing … unfortunately elevates our concerns that the hearing is being called to punish the companies who have chosen to engage in constitutionally protected litigation,” Smith’s letter read.
