US Reps launch investigation of Pharma's skyrocketing prices for MS drugs

In the USA, Representatives Elijah Cummings (Democrat, Maryland), a Ranking Member of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, and Peter Welch of Vermont, a senior Democrat on both the Oversight Committee and the Committee on Energy and Commerce, have sent letters to seven pharmaceutical companies requesting information about their pricing strategies for drugs used to treat multiple sclerosis (MS).

“We are launching an in-depth investigation to determine why drug companies are dramatically increasing their prices for drugs used to treat multiple sclerosis (MS), which is a disease of the central nervous system that often has devastating and disabling effects on patients,” Reps Cummings and Welch wrote. “We believe no American should be forced to struggle to afford lifesaving medical treatments, especially when drug companies increase prices without warning, cause, or justification.”

Letters were sent to the following companies requesting information by August 31, 2017: the US pharma subsidiary of Germany’s Bayer (BAYN: DE); Biogen (Nasdaq: BIIB); Merck KGaA (MRK: DE) subsidiary EMD Serono; the US units of Swiss firms Novartis (NOVN: VX) and Roche (ROG: SIX); Sanofi’s (Euronext: SAN) Sanofi Genzyme; and Israel’s Teva Pharmaceutical Industries (NYSE: TEVA).