A senator compared a drug manufacturer to Gollum during a hearing on rising drug prices

Executives from seven of the world's top drug manufacturers — Merck, Pfizer, AstraZeneca, Johnson & Johnson, AbbVie, Sanofi, and Bristol-Myers Squibb — gathered in Washington, D.C. on Tuesday to face questioning from the Senate Finance Committee about rising drug prices.

In front of larger-than-normal crowds for a public hearing on Capitol Hill, the bipartisan committee grilled the executives. Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), for example, singled out AbbVie CEO Richard Gonzalez for his company's decision to double the price of Humira, an arthritis medicine, from $18,000 to $39,000 for a 12-month supply.

"Can patients opt for a less expensive alternative?," Wyden asked. "No, they cannot, because AbbVie protects the exclusivity of Humira like Gollum with his ring."

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The Tolkien reference was in line with The New York Times' prediction that the hearing would result in "political theater," albeit in theater that "could also be a first step toward legislation to provide some relief from consumers."

The executives, for their part, were on the defensive in prepared testimony, shifting the blame for patients' out-of-pocket payments to insurers and pharmacy benefit managers and touting the money — often received through tax breaks — they have invested into research and development. Watch the hearing on C-SPAN.