Valeant Pharma (VRX), Retrophin (RTRX) Continue Slump Amid Senate Committee Price Hike Investigation
Retrophin, Inc. (Nasdaq: RTRX) and Valeant Pharma (NYSE: VRX) are seeing pressure as the U.S. Senate's Special Committee on Aging is probing the companies, along with Turing Pharma and Rodelis Therapeutics, over recent and significant price hikes.
U.S. Senators Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) will spearhead the initiative. Collins and McCaskill lead the SCA.
“The sudden, aggressive price hikes for a variety of drugs used widely for decades affect patients and health care providers and the overall cost of health care. These substantial increases have the potential to inflate the cost of health care for Americans, especially our seniors, by hundreds of millions of dollars each year,” said Chairman Collins. “Given the potential harm to patients across our country who rely on these drugs for critical care and treatment, the Senate Special Committee on Aging considers these massive price increases worthy of a serious, bipartisan investigation into the causes, impacts, and potential solutions.”
“Some of the recent actions we’ve seen in the pharmaceutical industry—with corporate acquisitions followed by dramatic increases in the prices of pre-existing drugs—have looked like little more than price gouging,” said McCaskill, former Missouri State Auditor and courtroom prosecutor. “We need to get to the bottom of why we’re seeing huge spikes in drug prices that seemingly have no relationship to research and development costs. I’m proud to help lead this bipartisan investigation so that we can find some answers the public wants and deserves.”
“We seek your cooperation with this investigation so that the Committee may better understand drug pricing and related regulatory and public policy concerns. In particular, the Committee wishes to learn more about Turing Pharmaceuticals’ recent acquisition of the rights to sell Daraprim, a drug used to treat and prevent infections, from Impax Laboratories and Turing’s subsequent decision to increase the price of Daraprim from $13.50 to $750 [per tablet],” reads the Senators’ letter to Turing Pharmaceuticals CEO Martin Shkreli.
Valeant shares are down around 5 percent, while Retrophin is down nearly 16 percent Wednesday.