Company hiked price for opioid overdose treatment 600 percent: Senate report

[Julian Englis]

Source: The Hill

A drug company “exploited the opioid crisis” by hiking the price of a drug to treat opioid overdoses by more than 600 percent between 2014 and 2017, according to a new Senate report.

The report from the Senate’s Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations finds that the company Kaléo raised the price of its drug EVZIO from $575 in 2014 to $4,100 in 2017. EVZIO is an auto-injector form of the drug naloxone, which is used to treat people overdosing on opioids, an occurrence that has reached crisis levels in the United States.

The report found that the price hikes have cost the government more than $142 million over the past four years through charges to Medicare and Medicaid.

“Kaléo’s more than 600 percent price increase of EVZIO not only exploits a country in the middle of an opioid crisis, but also American taxpayers who fund government-run health care programs designed to be a safety net for our country’s elderly and most vulnerable,” states the Senate report, which was led by Sens. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) and Tom Carper (D-Del.), the top lawmakers on the committee.

Read more: https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/417391-company-hiked-price-for-opioid-overdose-treatment-600-percent-senate-report

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Murderers and thieves.

[duforsure]

1. Remember trump said he'd reign in drug prices? He lied,

Well the truth is he took piles of campaign cash from Big Pharma , then lied to the American people claiming he'd stop their price gouging, when he's done the opposite. Just like he's done on health care, claiming everyone would have it, then he and republicans when they passed their tax scam bill , it included kicking millions off their health care, or made it un-affordable for many more. He's lied to the American people again. Maybe his supporters will learn to read and listen better to what he says, and what he really does. its almost always the opposite of the truth. Now they're trying to destroy Social Security too , and after he said he wouldn't touch it they reduced funding for Medicaid , Medicare, and Social Security close to 2 trillions dollars. And he signed it into law, after he claimed he wouldn't touch it. Just saying.

[neohippie]

2. How corporate citizens behave

Yep so you give a corporation rights and they don't really hold up on the responsibilities end of citizenship, instead they gouge the country

[Crutchez_CuiBono]

7. Corporate reform needs to happen very very soon. They are out of control.

ALL the rights of citizens..and all the rights of corporations....equals...ZERO ACCOUNTABILITY. It's ugly.

[ck4829]

25. +1

[Bengus81]

3. It was on 60 Minutes last night as they tried to cover their asses........

I thought the Shit gibbon was bringing drug prices DOWN as his told his idiot followers for weeks at his NAZI rally's.

[PatSeg]

14. Well

Of course, if he SAID it, we know it was a lie. I suppose his brainwashed base believes him, until they have to pay the inflated prices for life saving medication.

[BumRushDaShow]

4. 60 Minutes apparently did a segment on this last night

I had heard a clip of it on my local news radio station (a CBS affiliate) this morning.

Video of it here - https://www.cbsnews.com/news/evzio-the-opioid-overdose-reversal-drug-naloxone-with-a-4000-price-tag-60-minutes/

The critical part is the interview with the CEO, who is basically like other greedy CEOs who truly believe in "what the market will bear".

[Crutchez_CuiBono]

8. When the market is the American Taxpayer...the market will bear whatever the CEOs say it will.

The US Treasury is the gops piggy bank. The same ones who SAY they pay all the taxes, but, have avoided it for DECADES. Corporate reform needs to happen soon. Eliz Warren has done great work in this regard.

[BumRushDaShow]

17. As a famous movie noted

"The world is a business Mr. Beale...".

[UpInArms]

5. The march by the Reich wing to deregulate everything

Creates this environment... self regulation in the corporate world does not exist

Fools have taken the helm and this ship will sink

[onit2day]

16. After 12 yrs of effective pain control suddenly Drs in MO ordered to stop giving

pain meds. All the elderly folks here are suffering as pain meds are taken away irregardless of pain level being experienced. Put in place by republican gov. Republicans coming between a Dr. and patient This is so wrong to make so many suffer because of the bad behavior of a few. Like taking the bullets away from all gun owners after a mass shooting. It's ridiculous. People are suffering. Is there nothing we can do. I'm 68 and dying and in pain due to a mandate my Dr has to abide by. I am just one of many here. Help

[UpInArms]

18. I wish there was something I could do to help

The bad behavior of some seems to have destroyed the system.... I am so sorry

[Jedi Guy]

21. Speaking as someone who was hooked on opioids...

I think characterizing the problem as "bad behavior of some" is wrong. No one sets out to become hooked on pain meds. I didn't. I had a legit pain issue, but didn't have the insurance to investigate and correct the actual problem. My doctor, not wanting me to suffer, prescribed pain meds. A couple years later, I was, surprise surprise, hooked through the bag, as the saying goes.

I'm not sure if they've done any research to find out how people wind up hooked, but I'd be willing to bet most of them fell into it the same way I did, and that recreational users who wound up getting hooked are not the majority.

I ended up getting my shit together thanks to two factors: my wife deciding not to give up on me, and being in Canada so that I was able to get proper care for the actual problem, as well as support getting off the pain meds. I've been clean nearly five years, and I take my medication and live just like anyone else. If I'd still been in the States, I'd have been screwed.

The situation we're in is not simply because of the "bad behavior of some," it's a multi-faceted issue. Uninsured/underinsured like me who are on pain meds far longer than they should be (but it's that or live every day in grinding pain), government overreaction to the problem (while not tackling the actual causes), societal attitudes towards addiction/addicts (there's plenty of shame and self-loathing without anyone else adding to it), pharma companies lying about the risks of their products and/or treating it like a money pinata... those are just some of the factors in play here.

[The River]

26. I Hear You

I'm a year older and living? w/chronic pain. Issues of quality of life vs end of life are very much on my mind. My one passion was playing music. A recent leg surgery left my left hand half paralyzed (the IV..go figure). Without music, I simply exist to experience the pain.

[dalton99a]

6. Kick

[ck4829]

9. K&R

[Hotler]

10. In China the CEO's would be taken out back and...

to a dirt mound and made to kneel and.......... then the bill for the bullet would be sent to the family.

[Stuart G]

11. K and R nt

[workinclasszero]

12. It's so damn obvious. Unrestrained capitalism 101...

1. Flood the market with opioids and give millions to anti legal cannabis groups

2. Profit $

3. Opioid epidemic ensues

4. Create opioid overdose treatment

5. Profit $$

6. Hike price for opioid overdose treatment 600 percent

7. PROFIT $$$$$$$$

[elleng]

13. between 2014 and 2017

[kimbutgar]

15. Related but unrelated

I had to get this asthma medicine for my cat. After paying $650 for the exam they sent me a link for the asthma medicine it was $349 dollars and then I also had to pay for a mask that cost $150. My neighbor who has two cats told me of a website you can buy the same medicine for $39 from Canada. I ordered it and a mask from amazon for $54.

Pharmaceutical companies are out of control and there is no way this administration will stop them. Between oil and gas, banking, and big pharma they are ripping off consumers who have no recourse for the government or the courts. And the government is supposed to protect us from them.

[area51]

19. When are people in this country going to wake up

and demand health care as a basic human right? The govt. can negotiate drug prices just like other governments can.

[jmowreader]

20. Elect me president and here's what I'll do

I will convert the Fort Campbell Parade Field into a generic-drugs factory. It will be assigned to the Army Medical Department, and will make all the generic drugs America needs and sell them at cost-plus-10 percent. I mean, it's not like the generics manufacturers aren't buying the raw materials off Alibaba in 50-pound kegs, packaging them and marking them up 5000 percent...okay, it is exactly that, which is why I'm going to have the Army start making prescription drugs.

This plan has two advantages: it will reduce the price of generic drugs to a reasonable level without affecting their safety, and it'll finally get the troops to stop painting "FTA" on the water tower.

[mr_lebowski]

22. You literally could take a $6 generic suboxone pill (buprenorphine & naloxone)

Crush it up, dissolve it in H2O, and inject it into someone OD'ing ... and if they'd have survived from a shot of this $4,000 med ... they'd survive from the shot of the $6 crushed Suboxone.

And that's actually an EXPENSIVE form of naloxone.

You literally need about $.50 (at cost) worth of that drug to save someone's life.

That's how RIDICULOUS this pricing is.

[Scurrilous]

23. ...

[ck4829]

24. Kick