House Democrats launch probe into MS drug
pricing
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[August 18, 2017]
By Michael Erman
NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. House Democrats
said on Thursday they were launching an investigation into why prices
for Multiple Sclerosis (MS) treatments have nearly quintupled since
2004, and they sent letters requesting information from seven
drugmakers.
U.S. Representatives Elijah Cummings and Peter Welch sent the letters to
Bayer AG, Biogen Inc, Merck KGaA's EMD Serono unit, Novartis AG, Roche
Holding AG, Sanofi SA, and Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Inc.
The lawmakers on the U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Government
Reform said in the letters that they were looking to determine whether
drug companies were raising prices for MS drugs in lockstep with their
competitors.
The average annual cost of MS therapy rose to $78,000 in 2016 from
$16,000 in 2004, according to the National Multiple Sclerosis Society.
Drugmakers have faced a global pushback from regulators and lawmakers
about high prices.
President Donald Trump has said the companies are "getting away with
murder" and has pledged to lower the cost of prescription drugs. He met
with Representative Cummings to discuss the issue in March.
Previous congressional investigations and hearings into drug pricing
practices have had far-reaching effects. Mylan NV sharply reduced the
cost of EpiPen after the Oversight Committee began looking into the
increases that drove the list price of the life saving allergy treatment
to around $600 a pair.
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Valeant Pharmaceuticals International and Turing Pharmaceuticals
have also faced congressional pressure over high prices.
Roche said it plans to work with the lawmakers to address their
questions, and said the industry needs to reverse the trend of sharp
increases in MS drug prices.
It said its treatment Ocrevus is priced around 20 percent below the
current average cost of treatment and does not plan to aggressively
raise its price.
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A Bayer spokeswoman said the company had received the letter and
planned to reply directly to the congress members. Novartis said it
was reviewing the letter to determine how to address the request.
Sanofi did not immediately have a comment on the probe. Biogen, EMD
Serono, and Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Inc could not immediately
be reached for comment.
(Reporting by Michael Erman; editing by David Gregorio and Andrew
Hay)
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