Senate's HELP to hold drug price hearing

The Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee will hold a hearing on drug spending and pricing in the “near future,” Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) announced Tuesday. In a letter to Sens. Al Franken (D-Minn.) and Bill Cassidy (R-La.), Alexander said the hearing will focus on "drug spending in the U.S., including what we currently spend on drugs in the U.S., on what types of drugs, and what projections are for drug spending in the future."

Alexander said the hearing will be held in response to a request from Franken and Cassidy. They were among 10 members of both parties who signed a letter sent Tuesday to Alexander and Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), the committee's ranking member, expressing concern about "reports that the rising costs of prescription drugs are placing treatments out of reach for too many patients and driving up spending across our entire health care system."...