Drug company buys old med, jacks price 3900%, files for bankruptcy
The drug, Aloquin, was used to treat eczema and consisted of an old generic antibiotic and extracts from aloe vera. The price went from about $250 a tube to almost $10,000 a tube. Apparently patients balked at the price and rejected the prescriptions.
Insurance plans wouldn't pay $10k for such an old medication of dubious efficacy, the company had trouble being profitable. The article states that "The filing also said that manufacturing issues, a dispute with a wholesaler, and competition from generic creams contributed to the bankruptcy."
https://arstechnica.com/science/2019/02/infamous-pharma-company-declares-bankruptcy-after-3900-price-hike/
For myself, in November I went and saw my lung doctor about a persistent cough that had been bugging me for some months. He changed one of my meds, an inhaler for asthma control (I also carry a rescue inhaler) to two nebulized meds. I had been getting the inhaler for free via mail order. The two nebulized meds were $6 each at my local pharmacy. Starting in January, one of the meds were removed from my pharmacy benefits company's formulary and replaced with a drug that became $140 at my local pharmacy - and would increase in price after 3 months!
So I was forced to get it mail order, the two drugs became $130 for a three month supply.
I don't like getting my meds mail order as by getting them locally, that money supports local jobs, not jobs in another state. We have a bad enough economy here, and it may not be much, but it's something.
This entry was originally posted at https://thewayne.dreamwidth.org/1114900.html. Please comment there using OpenID.
Insurance plans wouldn't pay $10k for such an old medication of dubious efficacy, the company had trouble being profitable. The article states that "The filing also said that manufacturing issues, a dispute with a wholesaler, and competition from generic creams contributed to the bankruptcy."
https://arstechnica.com/science/2019/02/infamous-pharma-company-declares-bankruptcy-after-3900-price-hike/
For myself, in November I went and saw my lung doctor about a persistent cough that had been bugging me for some months. He changed one of my meds, an inhaler for asthma control (I also carry a rescue inhaler) to two nebulized meds. I had been getting the inhaler for free via mail order. The two nebulized meds were $6 each at my local pharmacy. Starting in January, one of the meds were removed from my pharmacy benefits company's formulary and replaced with a drug that became $140 at my local pharmacy - and would increase in price after 3 months!
So I was forced to get it mail order, the two drugs became $130 for a three month supply.
I don't like getting my meds mail order as by getting them locally, that money supports local jobs, not jobs in another state. We have a bad enough economy here, and it may not be much, but it's something.
This entry was originally posted at https://thewayne.dreamwidth.org/1114900.html. Please comment there using OpenID.