Members of the United States Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) have sent letters to the CEOs of AstraZeneca, Boehringer Ingelheim, GSK, and Teva asserting that “There is no reason for inhalers to be so expensive” and that each company “has manipulated the regulatory system to extend its monopolies over its inhaler products.” The letters demand that the companies provide the committee with extensive documentation, including internal emails and messages, related to pricing, life cycle management, and agreements with other companies related to competing products.
Each of the letters states that “The major brand-name pharmaceutical companies brought in more than $178 billion between 2000 and 2021 on inhaler products, revenues that are a direct result of the outrageous prices the companies charge,” with the high prices in turn resulting from each company’s “efforts to block generic competition.” Committee members cite retail prices of almost $500 for AirDuo Respiclick; more than $600 for Spiriva Respimat; over $700 for Bevespi Aerosphere; and nearly $800 for Trelegy Ellipta; each of which they describe as “a staggering amount.”
In each of the letters, the committee members accuse the companies of specific anti-competitive practices related to one or more brand-name inhalers, including the listing of inhaler device patents in the Orange Book. The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) recently initiated a review of dozens of inhaler device patents and issued warning letters related to wrongful listing of the patents in the Orange Book.
The letters also demand communications related to specific product development and marketing decisions such as AstraZeneca’s sales of only Symbicort MDI and not Symbicort Turbuhaler in the US; Boehringer Ingelheim’s introduction of Spiriva Respimat and plans for Spiriva HandiHaler; GSK’s decisions related to a switch from Flovent Diskus to Arnuity Ellipta; and Teva’s switch from QVAR to QVAR RediHaler.
Read the US Senate HELP committee letter to AstraZeneca.
Read the US Senate HELP committee letter to Boehringer Ingelheim.
Read the US Senate HELP committee letter to GSK.
Read the US Senate HELP committee letter to Teva.
