Overview

• The CEOs of Merck, Johnson & Johnson, and Bristol Myers Squibb have agreed to testify at a Senate hearing on high drug prices in the U.S., scheduled for February 8.
• The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee had planned to subpoena the CEOs after they initially declined to appear at the hearing.
• The executives will be asked to explain why their companies charge significantly higher prices for medicine in the U.S. than in other countries.
• 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.
• These treatments will be subject to the first round of Medicare drug price negotiations under President Joe Biden's Inflation Reduction Act, which aims to make costly medications more affordable for seniors.