Valeant's outgoing boss Michael Pearson subpoenaed to testify before US Senate

The outgoing chief executive of under-siege Canadian drugmaker Valeant Pharmaceuticals (VRX.TO) will be grilled by a US Senate panel over rising drug prices.

Michael Pearson has been summoned to testify at a Senate Special Committee on Aging Hearing on April 27, the panel said on Monday. He will face questions on the practice of buying the rights to old medicines and increasing prices, in what will be the third time the panel has met to discuss the issue.

The Committee, which has focused primarily on the practices of Valeant and US firm Turing Pharmaceuticals under its former chief executive Martin Shkreli, has previously heard that these price hikes can severely affect patients and lead to supply problems.