WASHINGTON, March 18 โ Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, issued the following statement on Monday after AstraZeneca announced it would limit cost outflows $35 per month pocket discount for your asthma and COPD inhalers, starting June 1, 2024.
The announcement comes on the heels of the January 8 HELP Committee. investigationled by Chairman Sanders and HELP Committee members Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), Ben Ray Lujรกn (D-N.M.), and Ed Markey (D-Mass.), on why Americans pay by far the most higher prices. in the world for inhalers.
Earlier this month, Boehringer Ingelheim announced it would cap patients' out-of-pocket costs for all of its inhalers at $35 starting June 1, 2024. The company also announced it would reduce the list price of some of its inhalers.
Sanders said:
In January, the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee that I chair launched an investigation into the outrageously high cost of inhalers that 25 million Americans with asthma and 16 million Americans with COPD rely on to breathe. In my opinion, Americans with asthma and COPD should not be forced to pay, in many cases, 10 to 70 times more for the same inhalers as patients in Europe and other parts of the world.
Since we began that investigation, I have had conversations with all the CEOs of the major manufacturers of these products.
Today, I am very pleased that AstraZeneca announced that patients in the United States with commercial insurance and those who are uninsured or underinsured will pay no more than $35 for inhalers they manufacture starting June 1 of this year.
This is a very positive step that will help Americans save thousands of dollars a year on the inhalers they need to breathe.
Today I call on the other two major inhaler manufacturers โ GlaxoSmithKline and Teva โ to take similar action. If AstraZeneca and Boehringer Ingelheim can cap the cost of inhalers at $35 in the United States, these other companies can do the same.
The Senate HELP Committee will continue to do everything we can to ensure that Americans no longer pay by far the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs.
