Senators call inhaler prices 'outrageous,' pressure drugmakers
Members of the HELP Committee are criticizing drugmakers for charging more for inhalers in the U.S. than in other countries.
Photo: Grace Cary/Getty Images
Four U.S. senators, led by Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., have sent letters to the four largest inhaler manufacturers – AstraZeneca, Boehringer Ingelheim, GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) and Teva Pharmaceuticals – informing them of an investigation into inhaler prices, which the senators called "outrageous."
Sanders, along with Sens. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., Ben Ray Luján, D-N.M., and Ed Markey, D-Mass., cosigned the letters. All are part of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee. Sanders is chair.
The four manufacturers charge between $200 and $600 each for inhaler products that are typically purchased monthly, the letter said. The senators estimated that 25 million Americans with asthma and 16 million Americans with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) rely on the inhalers to breathe.
"There is no rational reason, other than greed, as to why GlaxoSmithKline charges $319 for Advair HFA in the United States, but just $26 for the same inhaler in the United Kingdom," said Sanders in a statement. "It is unacceptable that Teva is charging Americans with asthma $286 for its QVAR RediHaler that costs just $9 in Germany. It is beyond absurd that Boehringer Ingelheim charges $489 for Combivent Respimat in the United States, but just $7 in France."
Baldwin echoed that sentiment, saying that the "exorbitant" price of inhalers for Americans "is just another example of big pharmaceutical companies putting profits over people. While families struggle to afford this lifesaving device, these four companies are jacking up prices and turning record profits."
WHAT'S THE IMPACT?
The senators highlighted further price differences between the U.S. and other countries. One of AstraZeneca's inhalers, Breztri Aerosphere, costs $645 in the U.S., but just $49 in the U.K., they said. Boehringer Ingelheim's Combivent Respimat costs $489 in the U.S., but just $7 in France. GSK's Advair HFA costs $319 in the U.S., but just $26 in the U.K,, and Teva's QVAR RediHaler costs $286 in the U.S., but just $9 in Germany.
Those prices are only possible in the U.S., the letter claimed, because the companies have "manipulated regulations to improve their bottom line."
Between 2000 and 2021, manufacturers of all inhaler products in the U.S. brought in more than $178 billion in revenue, they said.
In the letters, the senators wrote that the revenue figures from these companies "are a direct result of the outrageous prices the companies charge. These prices force patients, especially the uninsured and underinsured, to ration doses or abandon their prescriptions altogether. The results are predictable and devastating. Without consistent access to inhalers, people with asthma and COPD are more likely to get sick, to be hospitalized, and to die. Asthma alone kills 3,500 people every year, and nearly all of these deaths are preventable with regular treatment and affordable care."
They requested that the companies provide information and documents on the internal decisions regarding their inhalers, including how executives decide to add new features to old inhalers or to move patients off of old products and onto new products; whether the companies have evidence that their new products have any real clinical benefits compared to the old products; the costs involved in manufacturing their inhalers and information about their patient assistance programs; and information on how much the companies spend on research and development for asthma and COPD.
THE LARGER TREND
The HELP Committee, and Sanders in particular, have made drug affordability a priority. In February, Sanders released a Majority Staff Report detailing the executive compensation practices of major pharmaceutical companies during the COVID-19 pandemic. In March, the Committee held a hearing on Moderna's decision to increase the price of the COVID-19 vaccine, which was developed through a partnership with the National Institutes of Health. In May, the Committee held a hearing on the need to make insulin affordable for all Americans.
In October, he sent a letter to the Inspector General of the Department of Health and Human Services requesting an investigation into a decision by the NIH to grant an exclusive patent license to an unknown company connected to a former NIH employee. And in November, all Democratic members of the HELP Committee invited the CEOs of three pharmaceutical companies to testify on the cost of prescription drugs.
ON THE RECORD
"Access to inhalers can mean the difference between life and a suffocating death," said Luján. "Asthma alone impacts 27 million Americans, and 3,500 die every year. Lives would be saved with necessary, preventable treatment. It's wrong that so many Americans suffering from asthma and COPD cannot afford their inhalers."
Twitter: @JELagasse
Email the writer: Jeff.Lagasse@himssmedia.com
