Mo. Senator Claire McCaskill takes aim at prescription drugs

New McCaskill legislation seeks country of origin disclosure

U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) introduced legislation that would require pharmaceutical companies to display on their website the country of origin of all active pharmaceutical ingredients in the drugs they manufacture.

“Missourians ought to know where their drugs are coming from—and this is an easy way to bring transparency for consumers,” McCaskill said. “As we continue to see the effects of rising drug prices, we should make sure folks know what they’re getting, where it’s from, and have the chance to see if there’s any connection between countries of origin and drug pricing.”

McCaskill’s Pharmaceutical Origin Transparency Act would require drug manufacturers to display on their website the country where the active pharmaceutical ingredient is made in order for the drug to be sold in interstate commerce.

In March, McCaskill introduced a bipartisan bill to prohibit “pharmacy gag clauses” that lead to consumers needlessly overpaying for prescription drugs. She recently released a report as part of her role leading the Senate’s top oversight committee that found that prices for many of the most-prescribed brand-name drugs in the Medicare program are increasing at ten times the rate of inflation. She has called for a full review of the actions by health insurer Anthem to deny emergency room coverage for Missourians’ care that is deemed non-emergency.

McCaskill has also called for answers after a drug company acquired rights to a decades-old cancer treatment drug and hiked the price 1,400 percent over a four-year period.