In the wake of mounting anger over prescription drug costs, a new report by a Senate committee recommends several steps — such as accelerating regulatory review for generics and temporarily allowing imports — to blunt the financial impact that sudden price hikes are having on Americans.
The report from the Senate Special Committee on Aging follows a year-long probe into several well-publicized instances in which drug makers — notably, Valeant Pharmaceuticals and Turing Pharmaceuticals, which was run by Martin Shkreli — used controversial tactics to acquire older brand-name medicines and undermine competition after jacking up the prices to sky-high levels.
Those moves, which saw some prices rise 2,000 percent to 5,000 percent overnight, galvanized public outrage and helped to make climbing prescription drug costs a household issue across the country. And the report emerges as Washington is increasingly being urged to take action, a call that President-elect Donald Trump has indicated he plans to answer.
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