Swiss drugmaker Roche made an empty promise this week when they pledged on July 11 not to raise drug prices for the rest of the year, reports Naomi Kresge of Bloomberg, right after the company had already completed "the second of its customary two annual increases" on July 1.
Roche gave the U.S. government its no-price-rises promise on July 11, the company said in a statement Friday. The health system also needs to focus on “long-term, system-wide solutions that lower costs,” Roche said. “We’re committed to being part of the solution.”
However, Roche had raised the prices of nine medicines in early July by an average of about 3 percent, a spokeswoman told Bloomberg News later Friday by email. This included increases for Roche’s three best-selling drugs, the oncology blockbusters Herceptin, Rituxan and Avastin. -Bloomberg
Data on drug prices compiled by Bloomberg Intelligence and First Databank reveal that Roche's price increase followed a similar increase in January, and was part of a pattern of hikes conducted over several years.
Trump's crackdown on drug prices
On July 9, President Trump tweeted that Pfizer and others "should be ashamed that they have raised drug prices for no reason," warning "We will respond!"
Pfizer & others should be ashamed that they have raised drug prices for no reason. They are merely taking advantage of the poor & others unable to defend themselves, while at the same time giving bargain basement prices to other countries in Europe & elsewhere. We will respond!
Following up on Trump's tweet, his administration moved quickly this week to implement several significant components of the White House's plan to bring down drug prices. In response - and after Trump's tweet sent stocks tumbling, drugmakers around the world, from Merck to Pfizer and Novartis, rushed to announce their altruism - committing to temporary price-hike halts in some cases such as Pfizer's - while slashing the cost of various medications in others.
The Health and Human Services Department on Wednesday night submitted a proposal to the White House that would curb kickback exemptions that allow drugmakers to offer insurers and pharmacy-benefit managers rebates widely blamed for keeping drug prices high.
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The proposed regulation on rebates sent to the White House Office of Management and Budget would make changes to federal safe-harbor protections that have allowed the discounts. The federal anti-kickback statute allows “safe harbor” to protect normal business practices, an exemption that currently includes PBMs. -Bloomberg
And again, drugmakers' responses were little more than empty promises.
Merck, for example, announced that they are lowering the price of their $54,600 Hepatitis C treatment Zepatier by 60% - a meaningless announcement considering "that drug has struggled to take market share from expensive rival medications," according to Bloomberg...