Incredibly, last year, drug companies hired over 1,700 lobbyists including the former congressional leaders of both major political parties – over 3 pharmaceutical industry lobbyists for every Member of Congress.
According to a report done by the HELP Committee staff released today in 2021, while hundreds of thousands of Americans died from COVID, 50 pharmaceutical executives in just 10 companies made $1.9 billion in total compensation. M. President: The truth is we are dealing here today not just with an economic issue in terms of the high cost of prescription drugs.
In the 1950s, for example, there was Dr. Jonas Salk, who invented the vaccine for polio. Salk’s work saved millions of lives and prevented millions more from being paralyzed. I am sure that Alexander Fleming could also have become a multi-billionaire if he chose to own the exclusive rights to this anti-biotic.When Fleming was asked about his role, he did not talk about the outrageous fortune he could have made through his discovery. Instead, he said: “I did not invent penicillin. Nature did that. I only discovered it by accident.”In 1921, Dr. Banting along with two other scientists at the University of Toronto invented insulin.
Moderna, a drug company in Massachusetts, worked alongside the National Institutes of Health to develop the vaccine that so many of our people have effectively used. It is widely acknowledged that both the company and the NIH were responsible for the creation of this vaccine. He is thanking them by proposing to quadruple the price of the COVID vaccine to about $130 once the government stockpile of the vaccine runs out.M. President: On March 22nd, the Senate HELP Committee will be holding a hearing on March 22nd on this subject. Bottom line: Does Moderna think that it is appropriate to quadruple prices for the vaccine after receiving billions of dollars in taxpayer support.
People4Bernie SenSanders Because you, Bernie sanders, know how to discover medicines.
SenSanders Bernie & Squad are quite adept at raising issues they know will never be addressed or fixed. It allows them to keep progressive cred while knowing full well nothing will change. Disgraceful.