US Senate investigation into Rx drug pricing announced

US Senators Susan Collins (Republican, Maine) and Claire McCaskill (Democrat, Missouri), who together lead the Senate Special Committee on Aging, today announced a bipartisan Senate investigation into the pricing of pharmaceutical products.

The announcement follows a series of media reports (The Pharma Letters passim) detailing dramatic drug price increases - often on older, off-patent drugs - after the acquisition or merger of pharmaceutical companies.

"The sudden, aggressive price hikes for a variety of drugs used widely for decades affect patients and health care providers and the overall cost of health care. These substantial increases have the potential to inflate the cost of health care for Americans, especially our seniors, by hundreds of millions of dollars each year," said Chairman Sen Collins, adding: "Given the potential harm to patients across our country who rely on these drugs for critical care and treatment, the Senate Special Committee on Aging considers these massive price increases worthy of a serious, bipartisan investigation into the causes, impacts, and potential solutions."