Pharma CEOs grilled by senators over sky-high drug prices

WASHINGTON — Lawmakers sharply criticized the CEOs of three major drugmakers during a Senate committee hearing on Thursday, saying the exorbitant cost of prescription drugs in the U.S. means many Americans are unable to afford the medications they need to live.

Prescription drug prices in the U.S. are notoriously higher than other countries, a stark discrepancy that Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee Chair Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., called out.

The high prices mean people go without the medications, Sanders said.

“How many die as a result of that, how many suffer unnecessarily,” he asked. “Nobody knows. But my guess is in the millions.”

Senators heard testimony from Johnson & Johnson’s Joaquin Duato, Merck’s Robert Davis and Bristol Myers Squibb’s Chris Boerner. J&J and Merck's executives only agreed to testify after Sanders threatened to subpoena them.