On Thursday, the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions
(HELP) held a hearing titled “Making Health Care Affordable: Solutions to Lower
Costs and Empower Patients.”





 

August 1, 2025



TOPLINE



On Thursday, the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and
Pensions (HELP) held a hearing titled “Making Health Care Affordable: Solutions
to Lower Costs and Empower Patients.”



“Big Pharma’s egregious pricing practices and anti-competitive tactics are the
root cause of out-of-control drug prices that impact the affordability and
sustainability of the entire U.S. health care system,” CSRxP executive director
Lauren Aronson said in a statement ahead of the hearing.



“CSRxP appreciates the Committee’s bipartisan work on reforms to FDA Q1/Q2
sameness requirements exploited by Big Pharma to extend monopolies,” Aronson
continued. “The Committee can build on this track record of bipartisan
collaboration by advancing additional market-based solutions to boost
competition, including The Biosimilar Red Tape Elimination Act and The
Medication Affordability and Patent Integrity Act.”



Read CSRxP’s full statement, and learn more about these bipartisan,
market-based solutions,HERE
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QUOTES OF THE WEEK



“It's not rocket science. When the price of drugs goes high, when it hits
people's pocketbooks, they go without them. I could, you know, cite innumerable
studies showing that. And what happens is, people sometimes die.”



Adam Gaffney, Assistant Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School
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DATA POINTS YOU SHOULD KNOW



$675.1 Million



The amount that Big Pharma spent on advertising targeting consumers for
Skyrizi, Wegovy, Rinqoq, Tremfya, Rexulti, Dupixent, Jardiance, Ozempic,
Vraylar and Zepbound in the second quarter of the year, according toiSpot.tv
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TWEETS OF THE WEEK



@IMAKglobal <[link removed]>: “NEWS:
@SenPeterWelch (D-VT), @HawleyMO (R-MO), and @amyklobuchar (D-MN) introduced
the Eliminating Thickets to Improve Competition (ETHIC) Act. Originally
introduced by Sen. Welch in 2024 as “A Bill To Address Patent Thickets”, the
bill was reintroduced this month with nearly identical text as the “ETHIC Act.”
If passed, the ETHIC Act could help address some of the excesses of patent
thicketing by limiting the number of patents drug companies can assert in
litigation to one patent per patent group connected by terminal disclaimers.”



@P4ADNOW <[link removed]>: “Today,
@SenatorDurbin and Senator @ChuckGrassley asked for unanimous consent in the
Senate to pass their bipartisan DTC Act of 2025. Unfortunately, it was blocked.
This bill would have given patients a drug’s price as it’s being marketed to
them, helping patients make more informed choices and lessening sticker shock
at the pharmacy. It’s disappointing that this bill was blocked from moving
forward, but we are pleased these senators are fighting for greater
transparency for patients.”



ROAD TO RECOVERY



Inside Health Policy: Policymakers Urged To Thwart ‘Unnecessary’ Drug Patent
Filings
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Legislation to crack down on anticompetitive patent filings is necessary for
the Trump administration to succeed in lowering prescription drug costs,
experts said at a panel held by the Federal Trade Commission and Justice
Department’s Antitrust Division. Other key recommendations included
implementing regulatory reforms to allow easier approval of low-cost generic
drugs and biosimilars, and encouraging more interagency collaboration to
prevent drug companies from delaying market competition by exploiting
regulatory loopholes.



MM+M: Pharma’s Ad Tax Deductibility Remains In The Crosshairs
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In March, the Campaign for Sustainable RX Pricing (CSRxP) released an analysis
of 10 pharma companies that spent a combined $13.8 billion on advertising and
promotion in the U.S. in 2023. The report asserted that taxing or prohibiting
DTC ads for these pharma companies would result in increased federal tax
revenue between $1.5 and $1.7 billion per year.



Inside Health Policy: CSRxP Encourages Help Committee To Highlight Big
Pharma’s Egregious Pricing And Anti-Competitive Practices In Hearing On Health
Care Affordability
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The Campaign for Sustainable Rx Pricing (CSRxP) issued the following statement
ahead of a hearing on Thursday titled “Making Health Care Affordable: Solutions
to Lower Costs and Empower Patients” before the U.S. Senate Committee on
Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP). “Big Pharma’s egregious pricing
practices and anti-competitive tactics are the root cause of out-of-control
drug prices that impact the affordability and sustainability of the entire U.S.
health care system,” said CSRxP executive director Lauren Aronson. “As the
Committee meets to discuss health care affordability in America, we encourage
lawmakers to discuss bipartisan, market-based solutions to lower prescription
drug prices by fostering greater competition from more affordable alternatives
to high-priced brand name drugs.”



PHARMA’S POOR PROGNOSIS



Becker’s Hospital Review: Pharmaceutical Costs Expected To Rise 3.35% In 2026:
Vizient
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Pharmaceutical prices are expected to rise by 3.35% in 2026, according to
Vizient’s latest Pharmacy Market Outlet report, released in July. The report
found that price pressures are easing in certain areas due to biosimilar
competition, especially with respect to drugs such as Humira and Stelara.



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