US drug company hiked price of acne cream by 3,900% in less than 18 months

[Eugene]

Source: The Guardian

US drug company hiked price of acne cream by 3,900% in less than 18 months

Novum Pharma, bought the rights to Aloquin cream, which contains
two cheap ingredients, in 2015 and almost immediately increased
the price by 1,100%

Rupert Neate in New York
Wednesday 21 September 2016 19.18 BST

A US drug company has increased the price of an acne cream by more than 3,900% to $9,561 in less than 18 months in the latest example of drug “price gouging”, which has enraged the American public and become a central topic of debate in the presidential election campaign.

Novum Pharma, a recently formed privately held Chicago-based company, bought the rights to drug Aloquin in May 2015. The 60g cream, which contains two cheap ingredients, was sold by its previous owner, Primus Pharmaceuticals, for $241.50.

Novum almost immediately increased the price by 1,100%, and hiked the price higher still in January 2016. Figures seen by the Financial Times show the company increased the price a third time last week to take the cost to $9,561.

The revelation of the latest huge drug price hike on Wednesday comes as the US Congress prepares to grill the chief executive of Mylan, the company that increased the price of the allergic reaction treatment EpiPen by more than 500%.

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Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/business/2016/sep/21/novum-pharma-acne-cream-aloquin-price-gouging

[KT2000]

1. unless this practice is stopped

it will continue to happen. The future of new pharmaceuticals is dwindling so the idea is the make the most on the ones available now.
I just hope Congress has the courage to deal with this or we will be looking at insurance costs that are unaffordable to all but the 1%. But of course that would be blamed on Obamacare.