On Monday, Oct. 19, Hillary Clinton urged U.S. regulators to come forward and investigate the details of the controversial Daraprim price hike.
The Democratic presidential candidate pushed authorities to identify interventions on how to provide low-cost generic medicines to the market faster and battle against anticompetitive strategies of pharmaceutical companies.
Clinton sent letters to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), asking the two groups to do something about what she dubbed as "egregious actions of Turing Pharmaceuticals".
In Clinton's letter to the FDA, she said that Turing has not meaningfully lowered the price of 62-year-old drug Daraprim, despite earlier announcements. She added that patients who are dependent on the medicine, which is prescribed for immunocompromised patients, have been exploited due to the company's choice to increase cost from $13.50 to $750 per pill.
"The FDA should expedite any pending reviews, and encourage applications for review, of other generic alternatives to Daraprim," Clinton wrote.
Clinton admitted in her letter to the FTC, a consumer protection group, that she has limited power in addressing the problem when it is rooted from a unilateral intervention without competition. However, she still pushed the agency to study the entire industry, giving particular emphasis to Turing.
Clinton said she believes that the Congress and the Administration will greatly benefit from FTC's investigations and recommendation about the possibility and the manner with which existing legislations might be changed to combat the problem.
Clinton also requested the FTC to study whether the decision of Turing to impose a massive price hike on Daraprim is something that the agency can regulate.
Both the FDA and FTC have not yet issued an immediate response.
Turing Pharmaceuticals has not released a reaction to Clinton's letters as well.
The price of Daraprim has been controversial because the hike declared by Turing, the company that newly acquired its rights, was significantly high.
When Clinton criticized the massive price hike, the stock prices of pharmaceutical companies tumbled down. Turing has particularly been in the midst of jeopardy and is currently implementing rebranding efforts following a feature on the show "Saturday Night Live," where it was mocked.
Founder of Turing Pharmaceuticals Martin Shkreli and the drug Daraprim were included in the television advertisement of Clinton, as the presidential candidate explains her plans on how to handle "skyrocketing out-of-pocket costs."
"Nobody in America should have to choose between buying the medicine they need and paying their rent," Clinton said in the advertisement.
Photo: Marc Nozell | Flickr
