US Congress to investigate Copaxone price hikes

Copaxone
Copaxone

Teva has raised the price of Copaxone 10-fold since 1996, two US Congressmen claim.

Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. (NYSE: TEVA; TASE: TEVA) has raised the price of Copaxone by 1,002% since 1996, and the price of 40-milligram Copaxone, launched in 2014, has already risen 26%, according to US Congressmen Elijah Cummings (Democrat, Maryland) and Peter Welch (Democrat, Vermont). They announced late last week that they intended to investigate in depth the increase in price of drugs for the treatment of multiple sclerosis. Teva is not the only company mentioned by Cummings and Welch; they also sent letters to Bayer, Biogen, Novartis, and others.

"We believe no American should be forced to struggle to afford lifesaving medical treatments, especially when drug companies increase prices without warning, cause, or justification," the Congressmen wrote in their letter to Teva acting CEO Dr. Yitzhak Peterburg.

Cummings and Welch wrote that while the cost of a year's treatment with 20-milligram Copaxone in 1996 was $8,292, the price soared to $51,315 in 2012, and reached $91,401 in 2017. The price of an annual course of 40-milligram Copaxone rose from $63.715 in 2014 to $80,062 in 2017.

"In order to evaluate the underlying causes of skyrocketing prices for MS drugs," the Congressmen write that are asking Teva to provide information and documents from 2010 up to the present time, among other things concerning the net and operating profits on the drug, sales, cost of sales, discounts (commercial or for the government insurance plans), research and development, taxation, etc. They are also demanding all the documents, including analyses and internal memoranda of the company and the board of directors on the subject, including, for example, every document concerning efforts to extend the validity of the patent and the agreements and contracts with the suppliers and distributors.

Cummings and Welch write in their letter that generic competition in the multiple sclerosis treatment market is insufficient to lower the price of drugs, and that the only generic product is 20-milligram Copaxone, the price of which is $66,731.

"Shortly before this generic was launched, your company developed a new 40-milligram formulation that could be taken less frequently, and it switched approximately 70% of patients to this new formulation - which faces no generic competition," the Congressmen write in their letter.

Transferring patients to the double dose ensured several relatively easy years of Copaxone sales for Teva, in comparison with the competing generic drug. At the same time, it is believed that Teva's double dose will also face competition soon. Teva's revenue from Copaxone totaled almost $2 billion in the first half of 2017, and its profit on the drug was over $1.5 billion.

Teva said, "We are making an in-depth analysis of the request and intend to respond accordingly, and to fully cooperate with the committee in order to answer their questions."

Published by Globes [online], Israel Business News - www.globes-online.com - on August 20, 2017

© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2017

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