Senators launch investigation into high asthma inhaler prices

Asthma inhaler investigation overview:

• Who: A group of senators on the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions are seeking an investigation into high asthma inhaler prices.
• Why: Americans with asthma pay significantly higher prices for inhalers than patients in Europe, and the senators have asked the drug makers to justify the high U.S. prices.
• Where: The asthma inhaler investigation involves asthma inhalers sold in the U.S.

A group of U.S. senators announced their plan to investigate asthma inhaler prices to find out why Americans pay much higher prices for inhalers than their European counterparts, Law360 reports.

Senators Bernie Sanders, Tammy Baldwin, Ben Ray Jujan and Edward J. Markey sent letters dated Jan. 8 to pharmaceutical giants AstraZeneca, Boehringer Ingelheim, GlaxoSmithKline and Teva Pharmaceuticals seeking more information about how they set their asthma inhaler prices.

The senators are members of the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions. Sanders is the committee chair.

“There is no rational reason, other than greed, as to why GlaxoSmithKline charges $319 for Advair HFA in the United States but just $26 for the same inhaler in the United Kingdom,” Sanders said in a statement.

“It is unacceptable that Teva is charging Americans with asthma $286 for its QVAR RediHaler that costs just $9 in Germany,” he continued. “It is beyond absurd that Boehringer Ingelheim charges $489 for Combivent Respimat in the United States, but just $7 in France.”

Senators seek justification for high asthma inhaler prices

According to the asthma inhaler investigation letters, more than 20 million adults and 4.5 million children have asthma in the United States, most of whom need inhalers to help them breathe.

The senators claim that there is “no reason for inhalers to be so expensive,” as they have been around for decades and most of the active ingredients have been on the market for more than 25 years.

They suspect the pharmaceutical companies are manipulating the regulatory system to reduce access to generic asthma inhalers, which could substantially drive down prices. Brand-name drug manufacturers allegedly make minor changes to their inhaler products even though they contain the same active ingredients and seek additional patents to prevent competition from generic products.

Current law allows pharmaceutical companies to sue manufacturers of generic medications who challenge their patents, which results in an automatic two-and-a-half-year delay for approval of the generic medication, the senators’ letters to the drugmakers explain.

The asthma inhaler investigation seeks more information about how the drugmakers decide to make changes to their inhalers and how they decide to move patients toward new products, which the letters suggest are common anti-competitive tactics. The senators also asked the drug makers for more information about the purported benefits of their new products over their old ones.

Last summer, Cipla recalled six batches of albuterol inhalers because the containers had a defect that could cause the medication to leak, preventing patients from receiving a full dose.

What do you think about the senators’ asthma inhaler investigation? Join the discussion in the comments.

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