Biden, Sanders team up to cut costs of asthma inhalers, prescription drugs
“Finally, we beat Big Pharma,” said President Joe Biden to U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders on Wednesday at a White House event to promote efforts to lower the cost of asthma inhalers and other health-care expenses.
President Joe Biden and Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., teamed up on Wednesday to promote efforts to lower the cost of inhalers and other health-care expenses. “Bernie, you and I have been fighting this for 25 years,” Biden told Sanders during a joint news conference. “Finally, finally we beat Big Pharma. Finally.”
Sanders, chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, recently led an investigation into the four major manufacturers of asthma inhalers and the high prices charged for the product. He credited Biden and congressional Democrats for taking multiple steps to start bringing down the cost of medications.
“Working together we can take on the greed of the pharmaceutical industry and substantially lower the cost of prescription drugs in America,” he said. “And when we do that, we will be lowering the cost of health care in our country, which is double the cost of any other major nation on earth.”
List prices for inhalers range between $200 and $600, although they cost less than $5 to produce, according to a White House official. In November, the Federal Trade Commission challenged more than 100 patents held by manufacturers of brand-name asthma inhalers and other drugs as improperly or inaccurate listed in the Food and Drug Administration’s so-called “Orange Book.” Last month, three of the four largest inhaler manufacturers said they will cap the monthly cost at $35 for patients with private insurance. The cap does not apply to those with Medicare or other public coverage.
Alex Schriver, a spokesperson for trade group PhRMA, defended industry practices, calling the White House event “another missed opportunity to address the real barriers between patients and their medicines. When companies have introduced lower-priced versions of their medicines, insurers and pharmacy benefit managers have refused to cover them, because they make less money.”
Biden and Sanders also touted the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act, which caps various health-care costs for Medicare recipients, including $35 a month for insulin and $2,000 a year for prescription drugs. As the presidential campaign heats up, Democratic officials say Biden’s achievements in lowering health-care costs are popular with the public, yet voters haven’t given credit to the president.
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Biden and Sander were rivals for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2020. After Sanders ended his bid, his aides worked with Biden campaign officials to craft a party policy platform that would reflect Sanders’ influence. “I want to thank President Biden for what he has done on this issue up to now,” Sanders said, “and I look forward to working with the president as we go forward.”