Tag Archives: prescription drugs

‘Absolute Robbery’: Gilead Announces $3,120 Price Tag for Covid-19 Drug Developed With $70 Million in Taxpayer Support

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“Taxpayers provided funding for the development of this drug. Now Gilead is price-gouging off it during a pandemic. Beyond disgusting,” said Sen.Bernie Sanders.

By Jake Johnson, staff writer for Common Dreams. Published 6-29-2020

Photo: Ivan Radic/flickr/CC

Consumer advocates reacted with disgust Monday to an announcement by Gilead Sciences that it will charge U.S. hospitals around $3,120 per privately insured patient for a treatment course of remdesivir, a drug which has proven modestly effective at speeding Covid-19 recovery times.

Peter Maybarduk, director of Public Citizen’s Access to Medicines Program, called Gilead’s pricing—which works out to around $520 per dose for non-government buyers like hospitals—”an offensive display of hubris and disregard for the public” and slammed the Trump administration for failing to ensure that the price of a drug developed with substantial taxpayer support is affordable for all. Continue reading →

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Older Americans are risking coronavirus exposure to get their medications

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A new survey finds that, when it comes to medication, many older adults plan to keep going to the pharmacy as they always have. Braulio Jatar/Echoes Wire/Barcroft Media via Getty Images

Sarah Vordenberg, University of Michigan and Brian J. Zikmund-Fisher, University of Michigan

It’s been nearly a month since the U.S. government began urging older Americans to stay home to avoid exposure to the new coronavirus. That means many older adults may be running out of their usual 30-day supplies of medication.

As the pandemic continues to spread, they increasingly face a difficult challenge: how to get the medications they need without putting themselves at risk.

As health services researchers at the University of Michigan, we recently conducted a national survey to see how Americans over age 65 were responding to that dilemma. The results should be a call to action, both for older adults and for those who care about them. Continue reading →

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Why Are Drug Prices Rising So Much? Pharma Exec Admits ‘No Other Rationale’ But Profit-Making

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“The industry executive said the quiet part out loud,” said one outside expert in response. “Price-gouging is central to the industry business model.”

By Andrea Germanos, staff writer for Common Dreams. Published 11-28-2019

Photo: Liz McGregor

Corporations’ quest for profits is what “is driving up drug prices and nothing more.”

That’s according to Dennis Bourdette, M.D., chair of neurology in the Oregon Health and Science University (OHSU) School of Medicine, who co-authored a study published Monday that sought to find out companies’ rationale for the escalating prices on medications for patients with multiple sclerosis. Continue reading →

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‘Their Secret Agenda Today Is Exposed’: Corbyn Says Leaked Trade Docs Show Tory Plan to Privatize NHS With Trump’s Help

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The U.K. Labour leader said the move, if successful, “could lead to runaway privatization of our health service.”

By Jake Johnson, staff writer for Common Dreams. Published 11-27-2019

U.K. Labour Leader Jeremy Corbyn holds redacted copies of the Department for International Trade’s U.K.-U.S. Trade and Investment Working Group report following a speech about the National Health Service in Westminster, London. Photo: Devutopia/Twitter

U.K. Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn on Wednesday unveiled over 450 pages of leaked documents that he said expose British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s effort to open up the National Health Service to corporate exploitation in trade negotiations with U.S. President Donald Trump.

During a press conference, Corbyn said the Trump administration’s negotiators are “demanding” that the NHS be put “on the table” in talks over a possible post-Brexit trade pact between the U.S. and U.K. Continue reading →

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Lawsuit by 44 States Accuses Pharma Giants of ‘Multi-Year Conspiracy’ to Hike Drug Prices by Over 1,000%

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“We have hard evidence that shows the generic drug industry perpetrated a multi-billion dollar fraud on the American people.”

By Jake Johnson, staff writer for Common Dreams. Published 5-12-2019

Pfizer World Headquarters – New York City. Photo: Norbert Nagel/CC

A far-reaching lawsuit filed Friday by the attorneys general of more than 40 states accused some of the nation’s largest generic drug manufacturers of conspiring to inflate prices, in some cases by over 1,000 percent.

“We have hard evidence that shows the generic drug industry perpetrated a multi-billion dollar fraud on the American people,” Connecticut Attorney General William Tong, whose state led the probe into the companies’ practices, said in a statement. Continue reading →

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Rebuking Industry-Friendly Trump Plan, Doctors Offer Blueprint to Confront ‘Greed of Big Pharma’

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“The outrageous cost of prescription drugs in this country is a crisis that the American people feel every day. There are real solutions we can implement that we know will lower drug prices and save lives.”

By Jake Johnson, staff writer for Common Dreams. Published 5-17-2018

After President Donald Trump conclusively demonstrated last week that he is unwilling to take on the pharmaceutical industry and has no “legitimate plan” to lower drug prices, a group of 21 American and Canadian doctors on Thursday unveiled an ambitious plan that—unlike Trump’s “pharma-friendly” approach—would confront the drug industry and ensure the healthcare systems of both nations place the public good over private profit.

“Through a series of commonsense reforms, we can increase the affordability, safety, and effectiveness of medicine for our patients,” Dr. Adam Gaffney, co-chair of the Pharmaceutical Reform Working Group and one of the authors of the new plan, said in a statement. “Our pharmaceutical system prioritizes industry profits over public health, but it doesn’t have to be this way.” Continue reading →

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After Drug Plan Shows Trump ‘Will Do Nothing About Their Greed,’ Big Pharma Stocks Soar

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“When big pharmaceutical companies’ stocks spike during your big reveal on lowering prices, you’re doing something wrong.”

By Jake Johnson, staff writer for Common Dreams. Published 5-11-2018

“Don’t be fooled: President Trump and his administration are bought and paid for by Big Pharma,” Brad Woodhouse, campaign director of Protect Our Care, said in a statement. (Photo: Jeannie Baumann/Twitter)

In a strong indication that investors and major pharmaceutical companies know President Donald Trump’s newly unveiled drug plan “will do nothing to rein in their greed,” Big Pharma stocks soared on Friday as Trump delivered a brief and extremely vague speech promising to lower drug costs that critics called a “cover-up for the sweetheart deal” he’s offering America’s price-gouging drugmakers.


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FDA Raids in Florida Suggest Trump Admin. Policy Change That Benefits Big Pharma

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News of the raids follows the president’s nomination of a former drug company executive to serve as secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services

By Jessica Corbett, staff writer for CommonDreams. Published 11-20-2017

Raids by federal agents in Florida suggest a policy shift that will make it more difficult for Americans to access low-cost prescription medications. (Photo: Chris Potter/ccPix.com/Flickr/cc)

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) raided nine stores in Central Florida that assist customers with placing orders for low-cost prescription drugs from Canada and other countries, Kaiser Health News reported Monday, suggesting a shift away from a long-standing policy that benefited consumers but was strongly condemned by the pharmaceutical industry.

“The storefronts primarily serve seniors who prefer in-person assistance with buying medicines from Canada and other countries, rather than using an internet site,” Kaiser reports. Bill Hepscher, co-owner of six of the stores raided last month, estimates his business serves about 10,000 people a year, and that Florida has about 20 stores similar to his. His stores are located around Tampa Bay and Orlando. Continue reading →

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