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 ...
I think I’ll watch The Majestic again tonight.
At the hearing, Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Maryland) opened by saying, “It’s not funny — people are dying” because drug companies “jacked up” prices.
And Cummings has no responsibility for causing drug prices to rise. How about unreasonable regulations and Medicaid forcing pharmacies ( & drug companies) to accept less than what the drugs cost. Some of the Medicaid (WELFARE) recipients aren’t even willing to pay the 50 cents co-pay they are supposed to pay. They want if for FREE!
I got your and discovered black cherry juice, then the same thing in concentrated pills. I no longer have any gout symptoms and haven’t for months. I only take the pills if I feel a bit of big toe pain coming on.$6 for a one years supply if I take them every day.
Drugs are mostly a scam.
Love it that he has the sack to laugh at the clowns that make his profit margin look like peanuts.
yah, I’m conflicted on this one. He is a real jerk, but I would love the chance to sit in front of congress and treat them with the contempt they deserve.
While Congress is laughable, this guy is a self-glorifying sociopath with a whale-sized ego.
He probably just earned nomination as Clinton’s Sec of HHS.
I pretty much agree. He can set any price he desires for drugs that the company owns. If they don’t like this method....they’d have to create some national board to control prices, and you’d just bribe members of the board to allow for more inflated prices.
I sat and watched the testimony episode for twenty minutes....just laughing over the guy and his act.
The idiots in Congress need to change the absurd IP laws. Problem instantly solved. But they would rather grandstand in defense of the poor and dying and threaten communist price controls which would create real shortages.
More grandstanding as we head for single payer- you think healthcare is expensive now- wait until the govt runs it
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.