Kelly, Wyden, Democratic Colleagues Introduce Legislation to Force Disclosure of Terms with Big Pharma

This week, Senators Mark Kelly (D-AZ), Ron Wyden (D-OR), and 17 of their Democratic colleagues introduced the Drug Deal Disclosure Act, legislation to force the Trump administration to provide details of deals closed with more than a dozen of the largest pharmaceutical companies. The bill would also require an independent analysis to determine whether American families will actually see lower prices from the deals.

The legislation comes as the Senate Finance Committee released a report showing that these agreements are deals that benefit Big Pharma, providing tax breaks, regulatory relief, and exemption from Trump's other attempts to lower drug prices.

"Americans are paying the highest drug prices in the world while the Trump administration is cutting deals with Big Pharma," said Kelly. "Working families are already getting squeezed on gas and groceries because of this administration. If these deals are actually lowering costs for patients, show us. Americans deserve transparency."

"There is no greater fraud when it comes to lower prescription drug prices than Donald J. Trump," said Wyden. "After spending the last year parading Big Pharma CEOs through the Oval Office, all Trump has to show for it are a handful of sweetheart deals that shower goodies on these companies while Americans continue paying high prices for medicines they count on. If these deals are so great, why is the Trump administration afraid of showing them to the public? Because Trump is a giant fraud when it comes to lower drug prices."

The bill is also cosponsored by Senators Peter Welch (D-VT), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Ruben Gallego (D-AZ), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Ben Ray Luján (D-NM), Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Mark Warner (D-VA), Tina Smith (D-MI), Maggie Hassan (D-NH), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV), Michael Bennet (D-CO), Raphael Warnock (D-GA), Mazie Hirono (D-HI), and Maria Cantwell (D-WA).

Background:

The Drug Deal Disclosure Act requires the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to release the details of the deals struck between drug manufacturers and the Trump Administration, including all documentation associated with the agreements, and instructs the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) and the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to co-author and publish a comprehensive analysis of the economic and budgetary impacts of all disclosed agreements so that the American people can confidently assess the extent to which these deals save patients and taxpayers money.

The report "Trump's Big Pharma Giveaway" details how, absent further transparency, Trump's drug deals are a sham that benefit pharmaceutical corporations while offering little to no savings to patients and their families. Any potential savings for state Medicaid programs are unknown and likely to be minimal, and there is no evidence that companies will lower launch prices for their drugs.

Meanwhile, drug companies that inked these deals report that they are receiving tariff relief, exemption from Trump's other half-baked Medicare initiatives designed to create price parity with other nations, and Priority Review Vouchers to get their products approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) faster. Finally, TrumpRx is failing to deliver the lower prices that Trump promised, with nearly two thirds of the drugs on TrumpRx available for equivalent or cheaper prices elsewhere. The vast majority of Americans with health insurance get these products for a far lower cost already.

A one-pager of the bill can be found here and the full text of the bill can be found here.