Posted by Michael Wonder on 16 Feb 2017
CEO under fire for $89,000 drug has a history of steep price hikes
14 February 2017 - Sanders, Cummings requested information on increases in 2014.
The CEO of the latest drugmaker to face criticism over a product’s high price has a history of steep hikes on other drugs and at past companies.
Marathon Pharmaceuticals Chief Executive Officer Jeffrey Aronin, under fire for setting an $89,000 price on the company’s drug for a rare, deadly muscle disease, was questioned in a letter more than two years ago by Washington lawmakers about mark-ups on two heart drugs. Years earlier, as the leader of another company, Aronin took high price increases on a drug used to treat babies with a congenital defect.
Marathon increased the prices of the two older, off-patent heart drugs, Isuprel and Nitropress, by almost 400 percent over two years, according to an October 2014 letter to the CEO from Senator Bernie Sanders and Representative Elijah Cummings. Marathon sold the two drugs in 2015 to Valeant Pharmaceuticals, which further raised their prices, helping set off a national debate over drug costs.
