Senate panel to hold hearing on drug prices

The Senate’s health panel will hold a hearing next week on drug pricing, questioning experts about the prescription delivery system. 

The Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) committee will hold the hearing June 13 at 10 a.m., according to a media advisory. 

The long-awaited hearing will focus on “the process of moving prescription drugs from the manufacturer to patients and how the drug deli system affects what patients pay when picking up their prescriptions,” it says. 

Last month, HELP unanimously passed an amendment aimed at increasing generic drug competition and driving prices down. 

{mosads}During that same markup, an amendment from Sen. Bernie Sanders (D-Vt.) that would allow the importation of prescription drugs was tabled. 

The Trump administration is also working on actions to bring down drug prices, in an attempt to follow through on one of the president’s main campaign promises. 

That could include speeding up the Food and Drug Administration’s approval of new drugs.

However, Trump’s budget proposal did not include any major proposals that would attempt to bring down prices. 

Trump criticized the drug industry in January for high drug prices, saying it is “getting away with murder.”