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.
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
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 to iSpot.tv.
TWEETS OF THE WEEK
@IMAKglobal: “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: “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
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
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
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
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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