Sen. Sanders pushes NIH to rein in drug prices

https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2023/11/17/ [login to see] /sen-sanders-pushes-nih-to-rein-in-drug-prices
Can the National Institutes of Health bring down drug prices? It doesn't approve new medicines or pay for them, but its role in drug research gives it surprising leverage.

Sen. Bernie Sanders, chairman of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions committee, voted against confirmation of Dr. Monica Bertagnolli as NIH director. Sanders, a Vermont independent who caucuses with the Democrats in the Senate, said that he didn't think Bertagnolli was prepared to stand up to the pharmaceutical industry.

But Sanders tells NPR he plans to work with Bertagnolli, who was confirmed Nov. 7. He says something has to change at the NIH, which spends billions of dollars each year on biomedical research that lays the foundation for lucrative profits for the drug industry.