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Toledo
Blade...
Sen. Brown calls for
probe into drug’s cost hike
Blade Staff
U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown (D., Ohio) called Sunday for a federal
investigation of a pharmaceutical company for its 14,900 percent
increase in the price of a drug used to prevent premature labor for
women in high-risk pregnancies.
The prenatal drug Makena, which had been priced between $10 and $20 per
weekly injection, now will cost $1,500.
At a news conference at Toledo Hospital, Mr. Brown said the action by
KV Pharmaceutical Co. of St. Louis amounts to price gouging.
He and U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D., Minn.) asked the Federal Trade
Commission to determine if KV’s actions violated anti-trust regulations.
Mr. Brown said he was concerned about the strain the increase would
place on state Medicaid budgets.
The drug has been available from pharmacies that compounded, or mixed,
drugs, he said. But Mr. Brown said KV has been issuing cease-and-desist
letters to pharmacies that sell a compounded version of the drug.
The company could not be reached for comment Sunday.
On its Web site, KV’s marketing subsidiary, Ther-Rx Corp., said it
“takes very seriously the concerns raised about the list price of
Makena.” The company acknowledged receiving a letter from the Committee
on Energy and Commerce and said it will respond to it.
“Ther-Rx is committed to ensuring that this significant, FDA-approved
medication is covered at an affordable cost and available to all women
who are prescribed Makena, and looks forward to cooperating with the
members of Congress on these issues,” the company statement said.
The company said it offers a patient-assistance program to help pay for
the drug, which was granted orphan-drug status by the FDA because it is
targeted to an estimated market of fewer than 200,000 patients per year.
Read it at the Toledo Blade
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