A pharmaceutical firm that has tacked more than $80,000 to the annual price of a leukemia drug in recent years has drawn scrutiny from powerful members of Congress.
Rep. Elijah Cummings of Maryland, the leading Democrat on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, and Sen. Bernie Sanders, the Vermont independent whose recent presidential campaign has made him perhaps the most well-known member of Congress, have called on ARIAD Pharmaceuticals to explain its recent price hikes for Iclusig, the Associated Press reported.
ARIAD has raised the price for Iclusig from about $120,000 to nearly $200,000 a year, including four price increases in 2016 alone, according to the AP. The drug's price was less than $115,000 in 2012, when it received approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to treat two rare types of leukemia. ARIAD has raised the price despite briefly withdrawing the drug from the market in 2014 after concerns that it caused potentially deadly blood clots in patients.
Sanders sent a letter (.pdf) to ARIAD Chief Executive Officer Paris Panayiotopoulos last week inquiring about the price hikes, noting that they were “outrageous” and demanding how much the company has earned from its sales. Sanders also criticized the company in some social media postings, which STAT reported has dragged down ARIAD's stock price.
Drug company shaming by the media has become fairly commonplace in the past year or so. Martin Shkreli, former chief executive officer of Turing Pharmaceuticals, gained notoriety after the company raised the price of a drug that had been on the market for more than 60 years by more than 5,000 percent.
Another drug company, Valeant Pharmaceuticals has drawn fire for raising prices for two heart drugs, Isuprel and Nitropress, 525 percent and 212 percent, respectively. Although Valeant has promised to provide hospitals discounts, many have claimed they have yet to materialize.
The rising drug prices and spot shortages have put hospitals in a tight spot, with some drawing criticism for the process used to decide how specific patients should get them.