PRESS RELEASE
WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand will hold a simultaneous satellite media availability and conference call at 2:30 p.m. to announce the Stop Price Gouging Act to hold drug companies accountable for large price increases. This legislation would penalize pharmaceutical companies that engage in price gouging without cause, leading to price spikes for patients who rely on medication to treat diseases ranging from cancer to opioid overdose reversal.
Nearly 28 million Americans have personally experienced a sudden spike in the price of their prescription drugs over the past year according to Consumer Reports. According to Health Affairs Blog, the Stop Price Gouging Act would result in billions of dollars in savings for taxpayers. In New York, in 2016 alone, 280 million prescription drugs were filled at retail pharmacies.
The Stop Price Gouging Act would:
- Require pharmaceutical corporations to report any increases in the price of their products, as well as justification for any increases that exceed medical inflation, to the HHS IG as well as to the public;
- Impose a penalty on corporations that engage in excessive, unjustified price increases that is proportional to the size of the price spike.
- Instruct the Government Accountability Office to conduct a study examining how drug manufacturers establish initial launch prices and suggest best practices for monitoring new drug pricing; and
- Reinvest revenues collected from companies in future drug research and development at the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
The bill is co-sponsored by U.S. Senators Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Al Franken (D-MN), Jack Reed (D-RI), Maggie Hassan (D-NH), Tom Udall (D-NM), and Richard Durbin (D-IL).
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