Boehringer Ingelheim will cap out-of-pocket costs for its inhaler products at $35 per month starting in June.
The drugmaker announced the move March 7, saying the program will apply to all seven of its inhaler products and will begin June 1. Boehriner said it also plans to decrease the list price on some of its inhaler products, though it did not mention details on the reductions or to which products they will apply.
The move comes several months after a Senate committee, led by Sen. Bernie Sanders, launched an investigation into several drugmakers, including Boehringer, for charging Americans up to 70 times the amount consumers overseas pay for the same products.
"We want to do our part to help patients living with COPD or asthma who struggle to pay for their medications," Jean-Michel Boers, Boehringer's president and CEO, said in a news release. "This new program supports patients with predictable, affordable costs at the pharmacy counter."
Mr. Sanders applauded the effort and called on other drugmakers to follow suit.
"I am calling on the three other major manufacturers of inhalers to take similar action. And they are AstraZeneca, GlaxoSmithKline and Teva," he said in a statement. "If Boehringer Ingelheim can take action to cap the cost of inhalers at $35 in the United States and lower the list price of some of the inhalers it manufactures, these other companies can do the same."