Former presidential candidate Bernie Sanders stopped in Los Angeles Friday to call on his supporters to get behind a California ballot initiative that proposes a way to decrease prescription drug costs in the Golden State.

Hundreds of nurses, members of AARP and his supporters gathered at a rally outside the American Federation of Musicians Hall in Hollywood for what they hoped to hear and missed from the U.S. Senator from Vermont: a charged, heated speech on why supporting Proposition 61 was the beginning of a revolution against big drug companies.

“This is an industry which is extraordinarily greedy,” Sanders said to cheers and chants of “Bernie! Bernie! Bernie!”

“This is an industry that we have got to stand up to, an industry that has got to provide the medicine that people desperately need. Our job is to tell the pharmaceutical industry that we will not continue to pay by far the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs.”

Sanders, who ran against Democratic Presidential nominee Hillary Clinton but lost in the June primaries, garnered strong support among the young and former Occupy members as well as millions of others who doubted the Democratic party represented their beliefs.

He is featured in a commercial in support of Proposition 61, which wants to give state officials the ability to negotiate drug prices with pharmaceutical companies to bring costs closer to those used within the Department of Veteran’s Affairs.

Supporters of the California Drug Price Relief Act say the need for such a measure is timely given the recent uproar over the massive price hikes for the life-saving EpiPens and the public’s anger over drug costs in general. Pharma giant Mylan increased the price of a two-pack of EpiPens, which relieves severe allergy and asthma symptoms, from $100 to $600.

The Los Angeles-based AIDS Healthcare Foundation is the main proponent of the measure, with the California Nurses Association as one of the supporters.

“We see the tragedy everyday that big pharma causes,” said Zenei Cortez, president of the California Nurses Association. “This is very big having Bernie to come speak for Proposition 61 because he has always been for the people.”

Those who oppose the proposition include drug companies, political groups, chambers of commerce, and AIDS organizations. The No on Proposition 61 group says passing the measure will hurt veterans by increasing prescription drug prices for them and maybe others. They also said there were too many unknowns on how the prescription companies would adjust and how much California would save. The measure is mostly intended to help about 4.4 million patients.

Kathy Fairbanks, spokeswoman for No on Proposition 61, said she understands concerns about high drug prices, but added that legislative analysts who have studied the measure say “California is not going to save money on it.”

Meanwhile, Sanders never mentioned the presidential election or the candidates during his speech, but suggested that Big Pharma had deep ties to the election.

“Brothers and sisters, we are going to take on the pharmaceutical industry,” he said. “We’re going to take on the insurance industry. We’re going to take on a corrupt campaign system which is allowing the drug companies to spend unlimted amounts of money.”

Sanders supporter Katrina Bleckley said it was good to see the former presidential candidate speaking out on issues again and wished he was still in the race. She said she was charged by his call to back Prop 61.

“It’s ridiculous that we’re paying so much for medicines,” the 29-year-old said. “My mom is a nurse. She sees it all the time.”