Congress Scrutinizes Rx Pricing As Administration Releases Proposal To Ban Rebates

By John McManus, The McManus Group

After temporarily resolving the partial government shutdown, Congress kicked off the 116th Congress with two separate congressional hearings focused on pharmaceutical pricing. Despite mounting evidence that pharmaceutical costs have flattened recently, the pharmaceutical industry took licks from members on both side of the aisle in the divided Congress.

In hearings on Jan. 29, the Senate Finance Committee and House Government Reform & Oversight Committees stacked witnesses hostile to the industry, and even usually market-oriented conservative members felt little compunction to defend the industry that is now the subject of populist ire.