While pharma is price fixing, we’ll be fixing drug pricing. Welcome to the Week in Review.
1. Pushing For COVID-19 Profits
- Big Pharma and Wall Street are teaming up to push for high prices on COVID-19 treatments and vaccines. That’s why we’re calling on Congress to fix the rigged drug pricing system and pass legislation that will ensure Americans pay a fair price for our taxpayer-funded COVID-19 treatments. — (P4AD)
2. Flipping COVID-19 Molecules Like Houses
- A Miami hedge fund manager bought the rights to license a COVID-19 pill funded by $16 million in taxpayer grants from Emory University in March and sold those rights to pharma giant Merck just two months later. The terms? An undisclosed upfront sum plus “milestone” payments and a cut of the net proceeds if the drug is ultimately approved. This brand of speculative fervor exemplifies the impact Wall Street and investors have on pricing for potential COVID-19 drugs. – (The Washington Post)
3. Dr. Fauci Got It Wrong This Week
- We respect Dr. Fauci, but he got it wrong when he suggested Tuesday that guardrails on profits for taxpayer-funded COVID-19 drugs would impede the drugs’ development. History has proven that his argument that pharma will work in “good faith” doesn’t hold water. — (Bloomberg Law)
4. Pharma Ally Demands Transparency
- The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the country’s largest business lobby, called for transparency into multi-million dollar deals struck between pharmaceutical companies and the government to fund COVID-19 drug research and development. The about-face for the Chamber, which has lobbied alongside Big Pharma in the past, is a pretty big sign that the pharmaceutical industry is in for a reckoning. – (The Independent)
5. Topical Takedown
- State attorneys general filed a third lawsuit in a massive ongoing probe into the generic drug industry. The suit alleges companies colluded illegally to hike prices and reduce competition for topical drugs used to treat skin conditions, allergies, and pain. It’s business as usual for drug corporations as they bend the rules while patients suffer. — (AP)