RESOLUTION
WHEREAS, The City of Chicago is a home rule unit of government pursuant to the 1970 Illinois Constitution, Article VII, Section 6(a); and
WHEREAS, pursuant to its home rule power, the City of Chicago may exercise any power and perform any function relating to its government and affairs including the power to regulate for the protection of the public health, safety, morals, and welfare; and
WHEREAS, soaring prescription drug prices continue to capture headlines and wallets nationally and locally; and
WHEREAS, the City of Chicago, a steward of public funds that provide health care coverage to tens of thousands of its employees and retirees, and a public body charged with a duty to safeguard all of its residents from potentially predatory practices within its jurisdiction, has more than a vested interest in this matter; and
WHEREAS, retail prices for prescription drugs outpace every commonly used measure of inflation; and
WHEREAS, the list price of drugs has increased for the last three consecutive years with hikes of 12.6% in 2014, 12% in 2015, and 10% in 2016; and
WHEREAS, prices increased at eight times the rate of inflation for 30 prescription drugs analyzed by the Wall Street Journal, with an average price hike of 76% from 2010 to 2014; and
WHEREAS, targeted patients range from those with the rarest to the most common conditions— life threatening and otherwise; and
WHEREAS, Marathon Pharmaceuticals, a Northbrook, Illinois company, recently made headlines for its release of EMFLAZA, a medication used to treat Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (a genetic disease affecting 1 in every 3,500 live male births), and pricing at $89,000 per year a drug that sells for $1,200 per year outside of the United States; and
WHEREAS, a Chicago-based pharmaceutical Company, Novum Pharma in 2017 posted wholesale prices for three types of skin care treatment drugs ranging from approximately $6,000 to $8,000 when they were between $100 and $200 in 2015; and
WHEREAS, Biogen priced ...
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