Merck, J&J CEOs agree to testify in Senate hearing on drug prices

The CEOs of Merck and Johnson & Johnson have voluntarily agreed to testify at an upcoming Senate hearing on high drug prices in the U.S., Sen. Bernie Sanders announced Friday, as lawmakers ramp up efforts to rein in health-care costs for Americans. 

The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee’s hearing is scheduled for Feb. 8 at 10 a.m. ET.  

The panel had planned to vote to subpoena J&J CEO Joaquin Duato and Merck CEO Robert Davis to testify after both executives declined earlier requests to appear at the hearing. Those subpoenas would have been the first issued by the committee since 1981. 

Meanwhile, Bristol Myers Squibb CEO Chris Boerner and another unnamed pharmaceutical CEO agreed to initial invitations to testify. 

The panel will ask each executive to provide testimony about why their companies charge substantially higher prices for medicine in the U.S. than in other countries. The push to cut drug prices is one of the rare issues that has united both major political parties in recent years — though they have often backed different approaches to doing so.

Sanders, who chairs the Senate Health panel, noted that all three companies manufacture some of the most expensive drugs sold in the U.S., including Merck’s diabetes drug Januvia, J&J’s blood cancer treatment Imbruvica and Bristol Myers Squibb’s blood thinner Eliquis. 

All three of those treatments will be subject to the first round of Medicare drug price negotiations, a key policy under President Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act that aims to make costly medications more affordable for seniors. J&J, Merck and Bristol Myers Squib are all suing to halt the talks, which will establish new prices that will go into effect in…