25 February 2019 - Kenneth Frazier, CEO of pharma giant Merck, is set to face senators Tuesday who say drug costs are "sky-high" and "out of control."
But Frazier doesn't need new talking points. Sixty years ago, a different panel of senators grilled a different Merck boss about the same problem.
To a striking degree, the subjects likely to surface Tuesday -- high drug prices and profits, limited price transparency, aggressive marketing, alleged patent abuse and mediocre, "me-too" drugs -- are identical to the issues senators investigated decades ago, historical transcripts show.