Drug companies begin producing “climate-friendly” inhalers to circumvent Biden’s price caps
10/21/2024 / By Lance D Johnson
After twenty-five years of working in public office, Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders were able to put in place a price cap on insulin and inhalers, limiting what drug companies can charge to Medicare and Medicaid. In 2024, insulin and inhaler costs went from hundreds of dollars per prescription to just $35. Accordingly, Joe Biden said earlier this year, “Finally, finally we beat Big Pharma.”
However, drug companies have found a way to exploit Medicare price caps by using the climate change narrative to their advantage. According to federal data, today’s inhalers produce carbon emissions equivalent to driving half a million cars for a year. Using this climate narrative to their advantage, drug companies that produce inhalers (AstraZeneca, GSK, Teva Pharmaceuticals and Boehringer) have begun to produce “climate friendly” inhalers to circumvent Biden’s price cap on inhalers.
According to GlaxoSmithKline, “Next-generation propellant technology has the potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from Ventolin (salbutamol) inhaler by approximately 90%.”
This strategy will allow the new “green” inhalers to fall back under patent protection, restricting the production of cheaper, generic inhalers. This move will cost Medicare and Medicaid billions of extra dollars and allow major pharmaceutical companies to jack up their prices, hurting Americans who are already struggling to put food on the table.
https://www.climate.news/2024-10-21-drugmakers-climate-friendly-inhalers-evade-price-caps.html#
