WASHINGTON DC (January 22, 2019) — Senate Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley today announced a hearing titled “Drug Pricing in America: A Prescription for Change, Part I”, scheduled to convene at 10:15AM ET on Tuesday, January 29, 2019, at 215 Dirksen, Senate Office Building. The hearing will be the first in a series of hearings scrutinizing prescription drug pricing and considering policy and oversight solutions to lower costs for American patients.
“As I’ve stated time and again, addressing the sky-high cost of prescription drugs is a priority for me and the Senate Finance Committee this Congress. We already know what the problem is. It’s time to look at bipartisan solutions and work to turn them into law,” Grassley said.
After becoming chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, Grassley released a detailed agenda, including his priorities on health care policy. Grassley last year gave a floor speech on transparency in prescription drug pricing and this month wrote an op-ed outlining his plan to reduce health care costs.
This Congress, Grassley re-introduced bipartisan legislation with Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota to crack down on anti-competitive pay-for-delay pharmaceutical deals in which branded companies pay their generic competitors not to compete as part of a patent settlement. Grassley also introduced bipartisan legislation with Klobuchar to permit the importation of prescription drugs from approved pharmacies in Canada.
The committee will receive testimony from economists, a patient advocate and others. A witness list will be forthcoming. The hearing can be watched live here.
