Bernie Sanders proposes subpoenas of CEOs of J&J, Merck on drug prices

WASHINGTON — Senate health committee chair Bernie Sanders has taken a step toward subpoenaing the CEOs of Johnson & Johnson and Merck related to an investigation into high drug prices in the United States, he announced Thursday.

The step is highly unusual, as the health committee hasn’t issued a subpoena in more than 40 years.

Sanders (I-Vt.) had invited Johnson & Johnson CEO Joaquin Duato, Merck CEO Robert Davis, and Bristol Myers Squibb CEO Chris Boerner to testify at a hearing on the high costs of prescription drugs for patients in the United States compared with other countries.

The hearing, titled “Why Does the United States Pay, By Far, The Highest Prices In The World For Prescription Drugs?” was supposed to be held Jan. 25, but only Boerner agreed to testify, and only if at least one other CEO participated.

Instead, Sanders will hold a committee vote on whether to issue the two subpoenas, and whether to authorize an investigation into high drug costs, on Jan. 31, according to a notice obtained by STAT.

Sanders called it “absolutely unacceptable” that the two CEOs had refused the invitation to the hearing.

“These CEOs may make tens of millions of dollars in compensation. The pharmaceutical companies they run may make billions in profits. But that does not give them a right to evade congressional oversight,” he said in a written statement.

Johnson and Johnson said the company has “deep respect” for the committee’s work, and has continued to engage about the hearing. In a letter to the committee, Johnson and Johnson said it had offered an executive other than the CEO to testify.

“As part of this engagement, we have expressed our concerns with the hearing as it is currently planned,” the company said in a written statement.

Merck also said in a letter to committee leaders that the company offered an executive other than the CEO to testify about pricing and commercialization issues, and offered to answer written questions.

Sen. Bill Cassidy (La.), the panel’s top Republican, said that hearing from the companies’ executives in charge of pricing policy could have led to a “more insightful hearing.”

“I hope the HELP Committee can return to its longstanding tradition of bipartisan cooperation, rather than focusing on how many CEOs we can drag to the stocks,” Cassidy said in a written statement.

All three companies have sued the federal government alleging that the Medicare drug price negotiation program that Democrats enacted in 2022 is unconstitutional. Bristol Myers Squibb’s blood thinner Eliquis; Johnson & Johnson’s blood thinner Xarelto; anti-inflammatory medicine Stelara; and blood cancer treatment Imbruvica; and Merck’s diabetes drug Januvia were selected as part of the first 10 drugs to go through the negotiation process.

In a letter to the committee, Johnson and Johnson alleged that the “hearing is intended as retribution for the companies’ decisions to exercise their rights to challenge a statute that inappropriately infringes on constitutionally protected freedoms.”

Merck concurred, arguing that congressional investigations shouldn’t be used to punish companies for challenging laws in court.

“You have opted not for the most effective way of securing information relevant to the Committee’s important work on drug prices, but for a broad-ranging public spectacle, with witnesses you can question on pending litigation you disagree with,” the company wrote to Sanders.

Other drug company executives including the CEO of Moderna and the CEOs of insulin manufacturers have testified before the Senate health committee this Congress.

Sanders threatened to subpoena the CEO of Starbucks last year, who backed down and agreed to testify before a scheduled vote to issue the subpoena.

This article was updated with statements from Johnson and Johnson, Merck, and Sen. Bill Cassidy.