On May 10, the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee held a hearing entitled, "The Need to Make Insulin Affordable for All Americans." During the hearing, committee members heard testimony from a panel of executives from the three major insulin makers and the three major pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) in the US in advance of a May 11 markup of bills that include PBM reforms and proposals to increase access to generic drugs.

During the hearing, there was bipartisan frustration with the high cost of prescription drugs in the US compared with other developed nations, as well as bipartisan frustration about the role PBMs play in drug costs. However, several Republican committee members, including Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), raised concerns about the unintended consequences of the legislation before the committee.

In their testimony and in response to questions, the drugmaker executives defended their approach to pricing and asked Congress to address misaligned financial incentives elsewhere in the health care industry that can prevent patients from accessing the lowest cost product. Meanwhile, PBM executives criticized drugmakers for setting high prices and urged Congress to pass bills to increase competition in the prescription drug market.

More information is available here.

Additional information is also available in the attached Tax Alert.

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Hearing on affordable insulin