LANSING – Pharmaceutical companies would have to report to the state and the public annually how they set the prices of their prescription drugs under an eight-bill transparency package approved by the Michigan House Health Policy Committee.

But the committee rejected, in party-line fashion, several attempts by Democrats to put more teeth into the bills, including adding enforcement if the state determines a drugmaker’s price spike is not justified and constitutes price gouging.

Health Policy voted 15-0-4 to refer the main bill in the package, HB 5937 by Rep. Hank Vaupel (R-Fowlerville), to House Ways and Means. Those who passed were Reps. Julie Calley (R-Portland), Cara Clemente (D-Lincoln Park), Jim Ellison (D-Royal Oak) and Lori Stone (D-Warren).

The bill would require drugmakers to report each year to the Department of Insurance and Financial Services the “aggregate wholesale acquisition cost” it charges for each therapeutic category of drugs, net of all rebates and fees paid from all sources. It would require the drugmaker to report the research and development costs that were needed to bring the drug to market. It would require the report to include the marketing and advertising costs for the drug for the time it has been on the market.