Senator criticizes pharmaceutical company for appearing to ignore promise to limit inhaler costs

Pharmaceutical giant GSK is subverting its promise to reduce the price of its branded inhalers, a leading Democratic senator has alleged.

In a letter to CEO Emma Walmsley made public Thursday, Sen. Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.) said the company appears to be skirting its public commitment to cap the price of many of its brand-name inhalers at $35.

In March, GSK was one of three major inhaler manufacturers to commit to capping out-of-pocket costs for all of its inhaled medicines for asthma and chronic lung diseases at $35 per month.

The manufacturer stopped making its Flovent inhaler on January 1 and is instead offering an “authorized generic” version distributed by a different company. It’s the same drug, just without the brand. Flovent was one of the most popular inhalers for children with asthma.

However, major pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) such as CVS Caremark, Express Scripts, and OptumRx have largely refused to pay for generics. If they cover it, the drug will be listed in a non-preferred tier, so patients will face higher copays.

GSK has not capped the price of generic fluticasone and Hassan said the company “appears to be exploring a licensing agreement with Prasco Laboratories in order to circumvent its public commitments and price gouging by families without access to affordable alternatives to Flovent”.

Hassan is a member of the Senate Health Committee and the Finance Committee.

Although the list price of the new generic fluticasone inhaler is lower than the previous list price of Flovent HFA, Hassan noted that Prasco Laboratories is not offering negotiable pricing terms to insurers for the product to be covered on insurance formularies.

This means families must pay the full list price – somewhere between $150 and $250 per month – or go without their children’s medication.

The dispute between the pharmaceutical company and PBMs has left patients with few options.

“Countless children no longer have a single age-appropriate inhaler covered by their insurance plan,” Hassan wrote.

GSK said it had received the letter and would respond to the senator.

The company has been under scrutiny in recent months by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and other Democrats over the price of inhalers.

The company also faces scrutiny from federal regulators for anticompetitive practices that could delay the arrival of low-cost generics to the market.

Tens of millions of Americans suffer from asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and rely on inhalers to breathe – about 25 million Americans have asthma and about 16 million people have COPD.