{"id":178201,"date":"2019-02-09T20:16:00","date_gmt":"2019-02-10T01:16:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/2019\/02\/09\/jack-klugman-is-still-murdering-people\/"},"modified":"2019-02-09T20:16:00","modified_gmt":"2019-02-10T01:16:00","slug":"jack-klugman-is-still-murdering-people","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/2019\/02\/09\/jack-klugman-is-still-murdering-people\/","title":{"rendered":"Jack Klugman is Still Murdering People"},"content":{"rendered":"
Klugman has been dead for more than 6 years, but the orphan drug act that he championed is still giving drug companies a license to price old drugs at unaffordable levels<\/a>:<\/div>\n

In a letter sent Monday to the CEO of Catalyst Pharmaceuticals, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) demanded the company explain its decision to set the price of Firdapse, a drug used to treat a rare neuromuscular disease called Lambert-Eaton myasthenic syndrome (LEMS), at $375,000 per year. <\/p>\n

For two decades, patients have received the same drug \u2013 known as 3,4-DAP \u2013 for free from Jacobus Pharmaceutical under the Food and Drug Administration\u2019s compassionate use program. Recently, Catalyst licensed the rights to the drug and received exclusive rights to market Firdapse for seven years under the FDA\u2019s orphan drug designation. In December 2018, Catalyst announced to investors it would set the list price for Firdapse at $375,000 per year. <\/p>\n

As a result, patients around the country are frightened as to whether or not they will be able to maintain access to a drug they depend upon to survive. <\/p>\n

Last week, Sanders spoke via Skype with one of those patients, Rebecca Hovde of Wellman, Iowa, who told him about the incredible anxiety people with LEMS are living with as a result of Catalyst\u2019s decision to increase the price. \u201cI have friends saying that it\u2019s too much. They know they can\u2019t afford it. And they\u2019re just going to go to bed when their 3,4 DAP runs out,\u201d Hovde told Sanders. (Watch the full conversation here<\/a>.) <\/p>\n

In response to the concerns raised by Hovde and other patients, Sanders asked the CEO of Catalyst how many patients will suffer or die due to their decision to set such an outrageous price, calling that decision \u201cnot only a blatant fleecing of American taxpayers, but…also an immoral exploitation of patients who need this medication.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cBy setting such a high price and forcing production and distribution of the older, inexpensive version to cease, you are threatening access that patients had to a cheap version of this product, and handing a completely unwarranted bill to American taxpayers,\u201d Sanders wrote. <\/p>\n

Sanders requested information on what Catalyst is charging patients, private insurers and government payers for the medication. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe egregious price set by Catalyst cannot be allowed to stand. Patients in America should not be allowed to suffer or die because of the greed of a drug company. If Catalyst does not substantially lower the price of this medication, Congress must act to ensure it is affordable for every patient,\u201d Sanders said. <\/p>\n

Read Sanders’ letter to Catalyst here<\/a>.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Sanders is right, but the problem is not Catalyst as much as it is a regulatory regime that is dedicated to excessive monopoly rents. <\/p>\n

It is evil, and it is wrong.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Klugman has been dead for more than 6 years, but the orphan drug act that he championed is still giving drug companies a license to price old drugs at unaffordable levels: In a letter sent Monday to the CEO of Catalyst Pharmaceuticals, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) demanded the company explain its decision to set the …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[364,588,567,437],"class_list":["post-178201","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","tag-evil","tag-fail","tag-pharma","tag-regulation"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/178201"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=178201"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/178201\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=178201"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=178201"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=178201"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}