First we thought Martin
Shkreli was
the devil and he might have been but then we saw Mylan's
CEO Heather
Bresch, increase
the price of the EpiPen From
2007 to 2016, from $100 to $600, 461 percent. If that weren’t enough, ARIAD Pharmaceuticals has raised the
price of a leukemia drug to almost $199,000 a year. The only way I heard about the
increase in Ariad’s leukemia drug was because of a tweet from Bernie Sanders
who said, “Drug corporations' greed is
unbelievable. Ariad has raised the price of a leukemia drug to almost $199,000
a year.”
Yet Martin Shkreli is the only CEO who gets
punished? How can that be if Heather Bresch increased the price of the EpiPen From
2007 to 2016, from $100 to $600, a 461 percent? If that weren’t enough taxpayers
might have paid for Myan’s profits. Also
Myian didn’t develop the EpiPen. Meridian Medical
Technologies developed the EpiPen which was approved by the FDA in 1987. New York State opened an
antitrust investigation into Mylan NV, saying the embattled drug maker may have
ripped off local school systems that purchased life-saving EpiPen shots
for students.
If that weren’t enough, ARIAD Pharmaceuticals leukemia treatment is priced at price of
$16,560 a month, or almost $199,000 a year. Why weren’t Heather Bresch, ARIAD CEO Paris
Panayiotopoulos taken to the woodshed? How
about paying $89,000 for a drug to treat muscular dystrophy? Marathon
Pharmaceuticals pricing of the drug treating muscular
dystrophy is just another example of a broken system. Where the same drugs from the same
companies are available in Europe ad Canada at drastically cheaper prices. The
problem is Medicare is forbidden to negotiate lower prices for drugs. If Medicare was allowed to negotiate
lower prices for drugs those savings can be turned over to the American
consumer.
One
way to force change and allow Medicare to negotiate lower prices for drugs
would be for Americans to buy drugs from Canada and Europe which have the same
drugs from the same companies are considerably cheaper prices. That might force lawmakers to change
the law and allow Medicare negotiate lower prices for drugs.
