Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) plans to propose a new rule Monday that would require pharmaceutical companies to charge fair prices for drugs developed with taxpayer-backed research, he told HuffPost. The bill is Sanders’ latest attempt to stop the Department of Defense from awarding drugmaker Sanofi Pasteur an exclusive license to produce a Zika vaccine developed over the past year by the U.S. Army. “The days of allowing Sanofi and other drug makers to gouge American consumers after taking billions in taxpayer money must end,” Sanders told HuffPost. “That is why I am introducing legislation to demand fairer, lower prices for the Zika vaccine and for every drug developed with government resources. “That is simply unacceptable,” Sanders said of the company’s refusal.

Source: Huffington Post July 31, 2017 16:07 UTC