26 July 2018 - Sipping a lemon-flavored VitaminWater at a sprawling complex of laboratories and offices in Tarrytown, New York, Leonard Schleifer, the 66-year-old cofounder of Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, is, as usual, criticizing the pricing practices of other drug companies. 

"It's not simply about just growing your earnings per share by raising your price," Schleifer says. "So, yes, I'm glad I've been outspoken, because I think that I am trying to prevent what is still at risk of happening: If the industry does not behave properly, the government is going to step in."

Look who's talking. Regeneron, like other biotech firms, spends giant sums to find new cures, and it charges accordingly. Its big seller, the eye drug Eylea, costs $11,000 a year per eye. A newer Regeneron product, Dupixent, treats skin rashes; that one can run $37,000 a year. A cholesterol treatment costs $14,000 a year. Even more insane: These eye-catching prices really are cheap by pharma standards.

Read Forbes magazine article