Democratic Members of Congress Call for Investigation Into Companies’ Drug Price Increases

Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) and Rep. Katie Porter (D-Calif.) have called on the Federal Trade Commission and the Department of Justice to investigate whether Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Bristol Myers Squibb and Pfizer violated federal antitrust laws by making “parallel” price increases for two blockbuster blood thinner drugs.

The lawmakers cite price increases over a decade for Janssen’s Xarelto (rivaroxaban) and Bristol Myers Squibb and Pfizer’s Eliquis (apixaban), noting that both drugs were originally priced at just over $200 for a month’s supply.

“After more than a decade of price increases in seemingly coordinated fashion, a month’s supply is priced at $529 for Eliquis and $516 for Xarelto, five times and ten times the prices paid in other countries, respectively,” they said.

Read the letter here: bit.ly/3Hp0qdD.