During a House Oversight Committee hearing at the end of September, Democratic representatives harshly criticized pharmaceutical executives at Celgene, a Bristol Myers Squibb subsidiary, and Teva over drug prices and charitable contributions.
Rep. Katie Porter (D-CA) noted the disturbing similarities between bonuses that former Celgene CEO Mark Alles received in recent years and the price increases for Revlimid, a cancer therapeutic that cost 215 dollars in 2005 and 763 dollars today. Alles could not confirm that the higher price correlated with drug improvements, to which Porter responded, “To recap here: The drug didn’t get any better. The cancer patients didn’t get any better. You just got better at making money. You just refined your skills at price gouging.”
Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) considered internal documents from Teva that calculated the return on investment from charitable contributions and called out the drugmaker, saying, “Your pharmaceutical company makes these so-called charitable donations so you look like you give a shit about sick people.” Teva’s CEO Kare Schultz was so underprepared for the virtual hearing that one lawmaker told him he “might as well get off the screen,” while Rep. John Sarbanes (D-MD) said, “It would have been nice to come, maybe, equipped a little bit better.”
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Tracy Everhart
Tracy Everhart is the Editor for Drug Law Journal. A highly-trained and certified medical professional, Tracy is also an accomplished medical writer. After spending years on the front lines of the medical profession, Tracy now devotes her expertise and skills to researching and reporting on new drugs and devices that enter the market, as well as their side-effects and the real-life stories involved. Prior to joining Drug Law Journal, Tracy wrote for benchmark online healthcare resources focused on families and, in particular, women’s health issues. Tracy holds post-graduate degrees from both the American College of Healthcare Sciences and the Yale School of Nursing. She is also a graduate of both Hampshire College, where she studied microbiology and the University of South Carolina school of nursing.