Three Democratic senators want answers from Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. about his private meetings with drugmakers alongside President Trump at his Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Fla.
In a letter to Kennedy sent Monday, Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) said he “owes the public an explanation” for what happened during the meetings, why he took part, “and whether they will affect your commitment to ensuring that Americans receive the relief they deserve from high drug prices.”
Kennedy is a longtime critic of drug companies and their perceived influence in setting government policy. He has promised to root out conflicts of interest at agencies, and last week launched a website for the public to see conflicts of interest from members of a Food and Drug Administration vaccine advisory committee.
According to a report in The Wall Street Journal, drug company CEOs and other health executives wrote checks for millions of dollars to attend at least six private dinners with President Trump in the “gold-covered, chandeliered dining room” at Mar-a-Lago. Kennedy reportedly attended several of them.
“The dinners may have served as an opportunity for Big Pharma to gain insider access to both you and President Trump,” the senators wrote, calling the meetings “PhRMA’s influence-peddling events with President Trump.”
The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) is the trade group representing the drug industry. The organization has been lobbying the administration to change or remove a law from the Biden administration that allows Medicare to negotiate prescription drug prices.
“Big Pharma stands to profit immensely from President Trump’s abandonment of this and other policies that would bring drug prices down, such as patent reform,” the senators wrote. “PhRMA officials have continued to lobby President Trump to weaken drug price negotiations in the months since the dinners.”
In the letter, the senators asked for the specific dates of the meetings and whether drug company executives sought commitments on drug pricing and patent issues. They also asked Kennedy to disclose the amount of money that industry executives paid to attend each of the Trump-hosted dinners.
