Drugmakers, Insurers Spend Millions on Drug-Pricing Blame Game

Congressional criticism of pharmaceutical industry middlemen has created a rush of spending on lobbying and advertising as insurers and drugmakers battle over blame for the price of medicine in the US.

The fight over drug spending will be on display Wednesday when executives from three major drug companies that make insulin — Novo Nordisk Inc., Eli Lilly & Co., and Sanofi — and those from the three largest pharmaceutical benefit managers — CVS Health Corp., Express Scripts, and OptumRx — testify before a Senate committee. These six companies dominate their markets by a wide margin.

Committee leaders ...