More than 32 advocacy groups have called on the Biden administration to be transparent about the $41.7 billion that the federal government spends on clinical trials.

Doctors Without Borders (DWB), Doctors for America (DfA), Public Citizen and Patients for Affordable Drugs Now and other groups urged the administration to combat high drug and diagnostic prices to help force pharma companies to justify their pricing decisions and claims that clinical trials for their products are wildly expensive. It would also reveal how much money companies are putting into federally supported trials themselves.

“Drug companies have shown little regard for the public that’s footing the bill. They refuse to disclose in any detail how they’re using this government support, if these funds play a role in a product’s final price and how much they themselves are contributing. If pharmaceutical corporations insist that they must charge high prices in order to recoup the cost of R&D, then the public has a right to know what that R&D actually costs, the letter says.

The groups pointed to Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine as a prime example of clinical research that was almost completely supported by the federal government yet no details exist on how the money was spent, including for its pivotal trial.

Read the letter here: https://bit.ly/3Gpae5g.