According to the findings of a new investigation released Friday by House Democrats, drug companies are deliberately targeting the United States to raise prices and game the patent system to delay generic competition in a way that is "unsustainable, unjustified, and unfair to patients and taxpayers."

The inquiry focused on ten businesses that provide 12 of the most costly pharmaceuticals to Medicare, including insulin, and discovered that their costs had increased by more than 250 percent.

The House Oversight and Reform Committee's 269-page report is the result of a three-year investigation launched by the late Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.), the committee's chairman until he died in 2019.

Internal strategy documents, interactions among top executives, board materials, and nonpublic pricing data were among the items analyzed, according to staff.

The study is "misleading," according to Debra DeShong, executive vice president for public relations at the industry trade organization PhRMA since it  “fails to address abusive practices by insurance companies and middlemen who profit off a broken system while patients can’t afford their medicines.”

The findings are intended to refute the pharmaceutical industry's assertions that higher costs are required to support the research and development of new drugs.

Furthermore, Democrats aim to use the inquiry as a pretext for the Senate to adopt a social spending measure that has already passed the House of Representatives and would empower the Medicare health insurance program to negotiate prescription prices.

If this $1.75 trillion package is passed, insulin spending would be restricted to $35 per month, and Medicare will be able to charge a person more than $2,000 per year for medications.