Washington, D.C. -Today, Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney, the Chairwoman of the Committee on Oversight and Reform, announced a hearing with AbbVie Inc. Chief Executive Officer Richard Gonzalez during her testimony before the House Committee on the Judiciary Subcommittee on Antitrust, Commercial, and Administrative Law.
“My Committee is continuing its investigation of abuses by the pharmaceutical industry," Chairwoman Maloney testified. “On May 18, the Committee will hold a hearing with the CEO of AbbVie. AbbVie sells Humira, the highest grossing drug in the United States and the world. The Committee has obtained internal documents showing the tactics AbbVie uses to suppress competition for Humira and other drugs and maintain monopoly pricing in the U.S."
On Jan. 14, 2019, the late Chairman Elijah E. Cummings announced that the Committee would be investigating the pricing practices of 12 drug companies that sell 19 of the most expensive medications for patients, consumers, and taxpayers in the United States, including AbbVie’s drugs Humira and Imbruvica. Chairman Cummings wrote to AbbVie CEO Richard Gonzalez and others to request information on price increases, investments in research and development, and corporate strategies to preserve market share and pricing power for their products.
On June 21, 2019, Chairman Cummings sent follow-up letters to all of the companies requesting voluntary compliance with the Committee’s requests. On Sept. 27, 2019, he sent a third letter-only to AbbVie-warning that its responses were “woefully inadequate" and that the Committee would consider a subpoena if the company failed to provide complete responses.
On Sept. 1, 2020, Chairwoman Maloney notified all Committee Members of her intent to issue a subpoena to AbbVie if they continued to stonewall the Committee’s investigation. As a result, AbbVie finally began to comply with the Committee’s request.
The Committee will hold a hearing with the AbbVie CEO on May 18, 2021 at 10:00 a.m.
