It’s Pharma Bro 2.0 as drug company Amphastar Pharmaceuticals has decided to jack up the price of naloxone, a drug used to help those combating heroin addiction suppress the horrifying effects of withdrawal.
Rep. Elijah Cummings of Maryland had a few words to say about that on Tuesday, as he came down hard on them for their potentially life-threatening decision. He said:
“As more first responders began using this drug, the company that makes it, Amphastar, began to increase its prices by staggering amounts. In May 2014, a 10-dose pack cost the Baltimore City Health Department roughly $190. Guess what? Today, it costs more than $400 for a life-saving drug.”
Maryland has quite the heroin epidemic, with more than 20,000 active users in Baltimore alone. As demand for the withdrawal drug has increased, Amphastar has apparently decided its bottom line is more important than the people the drug is supposed to save. Citing a sales increase of 38 percent as justification for a “supply/demand” price hike, they seem to believe they’re fully within their rights to jack up the price.
Complaints about the price hike in states like Ohio and New York have brought some minor relief. Rebate programs have been established for public entities, but it’s devastatingly minor.
A serious issue is that this affects all drugs used for heroin overdose prevention and withdrawal relief. Another relief drug, suboxone, is also affected. Being made from a combination of naloxone and another drug means that this drug has seen increases in price as well.
As a number of people who use these types of drugs typically qualify for Medicaid benefits, the American taxpayer is also being hit hard by this price hike. So it’s not just a problem affecting sufferers of heroin addiction.
If enough people like Rep. Cummings stand up and fight, hopefully we can get another surge of anger powerful enough to topple Amphastar’s strangle hold on the price of this potentially life-saving drug. We did it for Pharma Bro, and we can do it again.
Featured image courtesy of Tom Wolf, available under a Creative Commons 2.0 license.
