BIG PHARMA at work
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Antidepressants Proven useless for most
Heart Medication kills 22,000 in 2 years
Statin combination Vytorin doesn't work, etc.
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0ff Prescription Market Law Eli Lilly violates for Zyprexa
Price Gouging for Orphan Drugs
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Direct to consumer spending on the rise
Pharma Lobby and Democrats
U.S. Pharma Moves to China and India
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Cancer Generic Drug Shortage increases sales of patented drugs
Price Gouging for Orphan Drugs

Congressional Hearing Attacks Price Gouging

 

Pharmalot By Ed Silverman, July 25, 2008 at http://www.pharmalot.com/2008/07/congressional-hearing-attacks-price-gouging/ 

Why has the cost of some drugs skyrocketed? That’s the question the Joint Economic Committee explored at a hearing yesterday in which some specialty pharma companies were skewered for raising prices dramatically after buying meds from larger drugmakers.

Among those cited were Ovation Pharmaceuticals, whose ceo, Jeff Aronin, is a PhRMA board member. In her opening remarks, US Senator Amy Klobuchar, a Democrat from Minnesota, indicated she asked the Federal Trade Commission to investigate Ovation for allegedly exploiting a lack of competition to one of its products. Another company cited was Questcor Pharmaceuticals.

“When we have pharmaceutical companies like Ovation or Questcor increasing prices to astronomical levels because of the lack of competition in the market, their actions are able to exploit an extremely vulnerable and captive market,” she said. “These staggeringly high prices, in turn, threaten the financial stability of middle class families relying on these drugs.”

Alan Goldbloom, ceo of Minnesota Children’s Hospital, testified that Ovation’s Indocin is an example. The drug is used to treat patent ductus arteriosus, or PDA, a condition that can interfere with breathing in newborn and premature babies. Until January 2006, the drug cost about $108 per unit. A few months earlier, though, Ovation bought the med from Merck, gaining exclusive rights, and the price jumped to $1,500 – a 1,278 percent increase.

“Indocin is not the only drug Ovation has marked up in such a dramatic fashion,” he continued. “Three other drugs that were purchased from Merck – Cosmegen, Diuril Sodium, and Mustargen have seen price increases of 3,437 percent, 864 percent, and 979 percent, respectively. Cosmegen is an agent used to treat a variety of pediatric cancers, Diuril Sodium is a diuretic used to reduce fluid overload in infants and neonates, and mustargen is used to treat brain tumors and certain lymphomas.”

 

Congress decries drug price-gouging

 

July 28,2008 by Tracy Staton, FiercePharma at http://www.fiercepharma.com/story/congress-decries-drug-price-gouging/2008-07-28?utm_medium=nl&utm_source=internal&cmp-id=EMC-NL-FP&dest=FP

 

Congress decries drug price-gouging

 

July 28,2008 by Tracy Staton, FiercePharma at http://www.fiercepharma.com/story/congress-decries-drug-price-gouging/2008-07-28?utm_medium=nl&utm_source=internal&cmp-id=EMC-NL-FP&dest=FP

Congress raked some specialty pharma companies over the coals on Friday, accusing them of gouging patients with "staggeringly high prices." In a hearing, the Joint Economic Committee targeted companies that had bought orphan drugs--the only available treatments for rare conditions--from larger drugmakers and then proceeded to raise their prices. For instance, Ovation Pharmaceuticals was said to have boosted the price of Indocin, a drug used to treat a condition that interferes with breathing in newborn and premature infants, to $1,500 per unit from $108 soon after buying the product from Merck.

And according to testimony, Indocin wasn't the only drug Ovation marked up so substantially. It bought three other Merck meds--Cosmegen, Diuril Sodium, and Mustargen--and boosted those prices by 3,437 percent, 864 percent, and 979 percent, respectively. Nor was Ovation the only culprit, the committee said; members cited Questcor Pharmaceuticals as another that raised prices on an orphan drug. In fact, a researcher said that she had found more than 100 single-source drugs at least doubled in price, with some increases amounting to more than 10,000 percent. That kind of sticker shock “look[s] uncomfortably like an abuse of the pricing power we give to drug companies,” said Sen. Charles Schumer, who chairs the committee.

What's next? Congress asked the Federal Trade Commission and the General Accountability Office to investigate.