Baldwin Grills Big Pharma CEOs on High Cost of Prescription Drugs

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), a member of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP), questioned the CEOs of Johnson & Johnson, Merck, and Bristol Myers Squibb on the exorbitant prices they charge hard-working families as their companies turn record profits. Senator Baldwin juxtaposed the stories of Wisconsinites who struggle to afford their medication while the CEOs in question make as much as $52.5 million annually.

The United States pays, by far, the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs. One out of four Americans cannot afford the medicine their doctors prescribe, yet ten large pharmaceutical companies made over $112 billion in profits in 2022. While Americans make sacrifices to afford life-saving medications, these companies are paying their chief executives exorbitant compensation packages and spending billions of dollars on stock buybacks and dividends to make their wealthy stockholders even richer.

During the hearing, Senator Baldwin advocated to pass her bipartisan legislation – the FAIR Drug Pricing Act – to require basic transparency for pharmaceutical corporations that increase drug prices. Last month, Senator Baldwin joined her colleagues in launching an investigation into the four largest inhaler manufacturers in the U.S. and most recently called on them to stop improperly listing patents for inhalers and deterring competition.

A video of Senator Baldwin’s questions available here.

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