Health Care — Pharma CEOs to testify after subpoena threat

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View Online Health Care Health Care The Big Story  Sanders gets pharma CEOs to play ball  Under the threat of subpoenas, the CEOs of Johnson & Johnson and Merck will testify at a Senate HELP Committee hearing Feb. 8, joining the head of Bristol Myers Squibb. © Greg Nash, The Hill Score another win for Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.).    The Senate HELP Committee was scheduled to vote Jan. 31 on subpoenas for the testimony of Johnson & Johnson CEO Joaquin Duato and Merck CEO Robert Davis, but Sanders said that is no longer needed.     The pair will join Bristol Myers Squibb CEO Chris Boerner, who previously agreed to testify, at a February hearing, Sanders announced.   They would have been the first subpoenas issued by the HELP Committee in more than 40 years.     "The use of a subpoena was clearly a last resort and I'm delighted that these CEOs will be coming into our committee voluntarily," Sanders said in a statement.    The situation is reminiscent of when Sanders last year threatened to subpoena the testimony of Howard Schultz, then-CEO of Starbucks. Schultz ultimately agreed to testify, one day before he would have faced a subpoena vote.    The Vermont senator said he wants the executives to explain why their companies charge substantially higher prices for medicine in the U.S. compared to other countries.      All three companies manufacture some of the most expensive drugs sold in the U.S., including the diabetes medication Januvia from Merck, the blood cancer drug Imbruvica from Johnson & Johnson and the blood thinner sold as Eliquis from Bristol Myers Squibb.    Merck previously claimed that Sanders's planned subpoena was a retaliatory action by the committee for the company's decision to sue the federal government over the Medicare drug price negotiation program that Democrats signed into law in 2022.     Johnson & Johnson said in a statement Friday that the company looks forward to "building an understanding of our longstanding efforts to improve affordability and access to medicines."  Welcome to The Hill's Health Care newsletter, we're Nathaniel Weixel and Joseph Choi — every week we follow the latest moves on how Washington impacts your health. 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