Posted on 02/04/2016 11:02:34 AM PST by SeekAndFind
Infamous former Turing CEO Martin Shkreli and Howard Schiller, the interim chief executive of the pharmaceutical company Valeant, just faced Congress.
Legislators on Thursday wanted them to answer for dramatic drug-price increases that affect the lives of Americans.
Shkreli caught national attention when his company purchased a lifesaving drug called Daraprim and then raised the price by over 5,000%.
Wall Street was closely watching Schiller; Valeant's stock was a darling until accusations of malfeasance from a short seller and government scrutiny over pricing chopped off a quarter of its stock price last year.
At the hearing, Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Maryland) opened by saying, "It's not funny -- people are dying" because drug companies "jacked up" prices.
"These tactics are not limited to a few 'bad apples,'" he said. "They are prominent throughout the entire industry. Lannett, Pfizer, Horizon, Teva, Amphastar, Allergan, Endo -- all of these companies have taken significant price increases on their drugs."
He also submitted letters from Human Rights Campaign, Consumer Union, the American Federation of Teachers, and more, expressing their concern about drug-pricing practices. Cummings also discussed regulation against what he called price gouging.
After Cummings spoke, Schiller took the hot seat. Schiller's prepared remarks are here.
Among his points were:
Valeant paid an outside consultant to determine prices. Valeant passes costs onto hospitals, not patients, and it actually lowers costs for patients through its assistance programs. The FDA should speed up the approval process for generic drugs. And then there's this interesting argument (emphasis ours):
"When these drugs are priced to reflect more closely their true clinical value, the more accurate price signals incentivize generic competition and innovation. Higher prices draw generic competitors into the market, which in turn tends to put significant downward pressure on prices."
(Excerpt) Read more at businessinsider.com ...
Absolutely no excuse. Those goons on the podium know how to spend billions too. Birds of a feather.
I just read an article about him in Vanity Fair.
He’s very smart.but nuts IMHO.
.
He looks disassociated and ridiculous. I’m sure he thinking he’s looking cool and nonchallant.
I questioned the price of this drug to the oncologist. The syringe only had a small amount in it. Can't remember how many milliliters now, but at the time I calculated to an ounce of this drug. I held up a one ounce vanilla extract bottle to my wife and told her that this one ounce of that drug would cost around a million bucks.
This is outrageous. The drug companies always tout...we must pay for the research. I don't believe them. Is it no wonder we now have the ACA.
Doctors over billing the insurance, the insurance bobbing and weaving, hospitals charging exorbitant rates. The whole system is broken. We pay more for Rx drugs in this country than anywhere in the world. Shameful.
He has a sure fire out.
Contribute to the Hillawench’s campaign.
After all, we know that the Just0Us Department and it’s Cretin-Clown show NEVER does anything to Democrats.
Resurrect the guillotine now.
And use it!
Slug that his is, laughing at those worthless asshats earns him a few redemption points in my book.
This is a slippery slope. The cost to bring a drug to market is extremely expensive, primarily due to the restrictions placed on drug testing by Federal regulatory agencies. When the patent expires, generic producers move in. The statement that expensive drugs have a generic equivalent coming to the market before less expensive drugs is probably true.
The solution? I don’t know. You need high prices for new drugs to keep the R&D going. However, in a situation like this where a third party buys the company or its patent and jacks the price up by 5000%, I’d think the Sherman Antitrust Act might be used to alter monopolistic pricing practices. The reason being that the original producer of the drug had priced it to recoup the R&D expenses, so those are covered. The new price is predatory and would not prevail in a competitive market.
Nuthin’ but a Balkans scamster running a game on the roobs.
There’s a reason that part of the world is a thug show.
It’s been my studied opinion that there’s a fine line between smart and nuts.
I’m thinkin’ either he’s:
,
1. On one of his own companies meds, or
2. He thinks he’s untouchable
I’d laugh too. Pot, meet kettle.
It’s only legal if it’s the government that does the price gouging.
In the mean time, I have to go sell some $600 hammers and $1200 toilet seats to the military. Your tax dollars at work.
Got one too. I sometimes take Colchrys for gout. $15 for 60 pills until one day I go in and it is $200+ for 30 pills. I didn’t need it so I complained and didn’t fill it. Later the price went back to $15 for 60 pills.
Sticker boy!
I saw it. The whole thing was a political stunt and a kangaroo court designed get attention for grandstanding politicians.
If the man is being charged with crimes, let him have his day in court and let a trial by jury decide.
I wonder if Rep. Cummings would like to rescind medicinal patents. Ending state approved monopolies would do more to increase production and reduce prices than anything else Congress could do...
This guy should be Trump’s VP. He can stand up to Congress!!
i read another article on this that stated drugs are just 10% of the overall cost of healthcare. I know thats no consolation to you and i agree with your sentiment. Still i was stunned at that number. I was in hospital for a week. Bill was like 60k.
Agreed
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