> ## Content Index
> Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.fdaweb.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further.

# House Hearing Planned on Rx Drug Market
- URL: https://www.fdaweb.com/house-hearing-planned-on-rx-drug-market/
- Published: 2016-01-20T12:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-09-15T02:29:08.000Z
- Author: David McFarland
- Tags: Drugs, #legacy-id-D5134486

> The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform has [planned a 1/26 hearing](https://oversight.house.gov/hearing/developments-in-the-prescription-drug-market-oversight/?ref=fdaweb.com) on “Developments in the Prescription Drug Market: Oversight.” The committee has reportedly asked former Turing Pharmaceuticals head **Martin Shkreli** to testify, along with Valeant Pharmaceutical's interim CEO **Howard Schiller**.  
>  
>  
>  
> Rising drug prices have caught the attention of Capitol Hill, health insurers, consumers, and presidential candidates. A recent *Huffington Post* blog [article](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/zeke-emanuel/holding-drug-companies-ac%5Fb%5F9011794.html?ref=fdaweb.com) by University of Pennsylvania professor **Ezekiel J. Emanuel** notes that drug prices in the U.S. rose almost 14% last year despite health care inflation falling to historic lows. He dismissed industry arguments that the reason drugs costs are so high is that they need the money to conduct research for new products.  
>  
>  
>  
> After examining how drug companies actually spend their money, Emanuel says research does not dominate. “Rather, more of the money goes toward funding marketing budgets and realizing profits,” he writes. He proposes an approach for drug companies similar to the Medical Loss Ratio (MLR) policy in the Affordable Care Act, which requires insurance companies to spend at least 80% of their premium revenue on actual health care, and has actually helped moderate health insurance premium increases.  
>  
>  
>  
>  
>  
> “Like the MLR policy,” he continues, “this proposal would require drug companies to spend a certain proportion of their revenue or invested capital on research, holding them accountable for their rhetoric on research spending. If the percentage of their research budget is too small, then they would be assessed a penalty that would be given to biomedical research institutions, like the National Institutes of Health, which generate the basic research that drug companies later develop into actual drugs.”