WASHINGTON (AP) — Maryland Congressman Elijah Cummings says he plans to testify on Capitol Hill about drug shortages and so-called gray-market drug companies.
Cummings says he will testify Wednesday before the Senate Commerce Committee on his investigation. The Maryland congressman says he launched the probe nearly a year ago after receiving a letter from University of Maryland women’s basketball coach Brenda Frese, who was having trouble getting medication to treat her son’s leukemia.
The lawmaker is proposing reforms to deter price-gouging and make the drug supply chain safer. Shortages have forced doctors to postpone chemotherapy and surgeries or provide less effective treatment and have even been blamed for some deaths. Cummings has been looking into where companies get drugs that are in short supply, what they pay, and how much they charge hospitals.
