WASHINGTON, D.C.— Chairman John D. (Jay) Rockefeller IV and Rep. Elijah E. Cummings, Ranking Member of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, sent a letter about the so-called “gray market” distribution network for short-supply prescription drugs to the House-Senate negotiators on legislation to reauthorize programs within the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

This letter offers policy recommendations based on information obtained during the ongoing bicameral investigation led by Senators Rockefeller and Tom Harkin, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, and Ranking Member Cummings into why hospitals and other health care providers are having difficulty obtaining short-supply prescription drugs they need to treat patients suffering from cancer and other life-threatening conditions. The investigation is looking at whether certain drug distributors are exploiting drug shortages to price gouge hospitals and other health care providers.

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