|
 The request by U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders and Representative Elijah
Cummings follows a similar letter they sent last fall calling for an
investigation into 14 drug companies over price increases of generic
drugs.
U.S. prosecutors could file the first charges by the end of the year
in their subsequent criminal investigation of generic drugmakers
over suspected price collusion, Bloomberg reported on Thursday.
(http://bloom.bg/2e6cZjF)
A Justice Department spokesman declined to comment.
In their latest letter to the Justice Department and Federal Trade
Commission, Sanders, an independent, and Cummings, a Democrat,
raised questions about skyrocketing prices for insulin, and included
a chart showing that many of the price spikes appeared to occur in
tandem.
They noted that the original patent on insulin, a hormone used by
diabetics to control blood sugar levels, expired 75 years ago.
Sanofi spokeswoman Ashleigh Koss said in an emailed statement that "Sanofi
sets the prices of our treatments independently."
Novo Nordisk also said it sets prices "independently" and said it
stands by its business practices. A spokeswoman for Merck said the
company does not make insulin.
Merck makes other products to treat diabetes.
Eli Lilly, in an email, said it strongly disagrees with the
accusations in the letter. "The insulin market in the U.S. is highly
competitive," the pharmaceutical company said.
Shares of several generic drugmakers fell on Thursday after the
report of pending Justice Department charges. Mylan N.V. closed down
6.9 percent, Allergan Plc fell 4.5 percent and Endo International
Plc dropped 19.5 percent. Teva Pharmaceuticals Inc Ltd, which
recently acquired Allergan's generics business, fell 9.5 percent.
"We do not think the major generic companies have likely
participated in significant pricing collusion," A/B Bernstein
analyst Ronny Gal said in a research note.
Several generic drugmakers, including Mylan, Allergan, Endo and Taro
Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd, had previously disclosed that they
were subpoenaed in connection with the antitrust investigation by
the Justice Department. Bloomberg said the probe spans more than a
dozen companies and about two dozen drugs, citing people familiar
with the matter.
Impax Laboratories Inc said earlier this year that the Justice
Department had requested information on four drugs: blood pressure
pill digoxin, asthma drug terbutaline sulfate, prilocaine/lidocaine
cream and calcipotriene solution, which is used to treat psoriasis.
[to top of second column] |
A spokesman from Teva said the company "is not aware of any facts
that would give rise to an exposure to the company with respect to
these subpoenas."
Officials at Endo and Lannett Company Inc did not immediately
respond to requests for comment.
Aggressive drug pricing has come under intense scrutiny after
Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton tweeted her intent
to tackle high prices last year.
An August report from the Government Accountability Office found
that more than 300 of 1,441 generic drugs analyzed had at least one
price increase of 100 percent or more between the first quarter of
2010 and the first quarter of 2015.
In February, Sanders and Cummings asked the U.S. Department of
Health and Human Services' enforcement arm to investigate generic
drug price increases.
Recent price hikes that have drawn fire included Turing
Pharmaceuticals' decision in 2015 to raise by 5,000 percent the
price of a decades-old treatment for a dangerous parasitic
infection.
Generic drugmakers, possibly reacting to the political headwinds,
reined in price hikes this year.
Guggenheim Securities, citing polling of generic drugmakers, last
month estimated that overall U.S. generic drug prices would dip by a
percentage in the mid-single digits this year.
The price erosion has been felt by drug wholesalers like McKesson
Corp and Amerisource Bergen Corp, which rely on price fluctuations
for part of their profit margins.
(Reporting by Deena Beasley in Los Angeles; Additional reporting by
Sarah N. Lynch in Washington, D.C., Nikhil Subba and Sweta Singh in
Bengaluru; Editing by Bernard Orr and Leslie Adler)
[© 2016 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2016 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. |
