Big Pharma CEOs grilled on Capitol Hill over drug prices: 4 key takeaways

Lawmakers confronted CEOs over executive compensation and stock buybacks.

Senators grilled chief executives from three top pharmaceutical companies over prescription drug prices during an hourslong committee hearing Thursday on Capitol Hill.

Members of both major political parties bemoaned drug prices they consider too high, but liberals and conservatives revealed differences in their views of the role played by the pharmaceutical companies.

The three CEOs -- Robert M. Davis of Merck, Joaquin Duato of Johnson & Johnson and Christopher Boerner of Bristol Myers Squibb -- said drug prices account for the considerable cost of research and development, as well as the ready availability of treatments in the United States.

Here are the four biggest takeaways from the CEOs' testimony before the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions:

The testiest moments of the hearing came when liberal lawmakers challenged the pharmaceutical executives over what the senators said they viewed as high prices, invoking anecdotes of patients forced to choose between purchasing medicine or paying for essentials such as rent or food.