2 May 2016 - Documents collected during a Senate investigation provide look at how Valeant arrived at sharp price increases.

​In early 2015, when Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc.’s top brass met to set prices on a soon-to-be-acquired cardiac drug, some executives suggested slow, staggered price increases. Chief Executive Michael Pearson disagreed.

To reach Valeant’s internal profit targets, Mr. Pearson lobbied for a single, sharp increase. Hospitals could still make a profit at the higher price, he argued, which meant patients would still have access to the drug. The team deferred. The day it completed its February 2015 purchase of the drug, called Nitropress, Valeant tripled the cost.

The exchange, recounted in a document reviewed by The Wall Street Journal, shows in greater detail than was previously known how Valeant and its now-outgoing CEO Mr. Pearson pursued quick, aggressive price increases on acquired drugs in recent years—a strategy that sparked widespread backlash and landed Mr. Pearson in front of a Senate investigative panel last week.

For more details, go to: http://www.wsj.com/articles/valeants-ceo-was-key-force-on-pricing-1462148551?mod=asia&mod=djemITPA_t