US Senate for curbs on "price gouging" of life saving drugs
22 Dec 2016
US Senators Susan Collins, Republican, and Claire McCaskill, Democrat, released the findings from investigations into companies like Turing Pharmaceuticals, which sparked national outrage last year after ratcheting the price of a life-saving anti-infection drug by over 5,000 per cent.
Committee investigators concluded that Turing and several other companies ''engaged in price gouging ... to make massive profits from decades-old life-saving therapies.'' Similar findings had been presented by the lawmakers, top members of the Special Committee on Aging, at three hearings over the past year.
Turing Pharmaceuticals and Retrophin, two firms Skhreli had headed and troubled drugmaker Valeant Pharmaceuticals International and Rodelis Therapeutics were among companies that ratcheted prices of some decades-old, off-patent drugs they acquired and controlled through monopoly business models, according to the report.
Shkreli had come in for severe criticism for directing drug price increases at Retrophin and Turing. The increases included a more than 5000 per cent hike for Daraprim, a medication used in the treatment of a parasitic disease that often afflicted people with weakened immune systems, including HIV patients.
Meanwhile, lawmakers and pharmaceutical executives are trying to assess president-elect Donald Trump's interest in government intervention to rein in increasing drug prices.
During his campaign, Trump had said he would support efforts to allow Medicare - the massive government health plan for seniors - to directly negotiate drug prices with manufacturers, which had been opposed by the pharmaceutical lobby.
This did not appear to be among the health care proposals currently listed on Trump's website, which included a policy allowing the import of cheaper drugs from Canada and other countries, another proposal that had been opposed by drugmakers.
The report said that some drug companies behaved like hedge funds due to the influence of ''activist investors.''
For years, Republicans had supported drug companies in resisting legislation to restrain drug prices, on the ground that drug makers needed additional revenue to pay for research. But in his campaign, Trump had promised to ''remove barriers to entry'' of ''imported safe and dependable drugs from overseas.''
Trump and his staff had not provided details, and it was not clear whether he intended to push for a proposal on the lines of his declaration.
Trump had told Time magazine after the election: ''I'm going to bring down drug prices. I don't like what's happened with drug prices.''
