My wife, with Parkinson's disease, is the dreaded doughnut hole. A recent prescription would have cost us $565. I found I could fill the prescription through a licensed Canadian pharmacy for $49---from the same U.S. manufacturer! Mike

Representative launches investigation into gray market gouging

posted Fri, 7 Oct 2011

Sometimes writing to your representatives does make an impact! Brenda Frese, mother of a 3-year-old with leukemia, wrote to Representative Elijah Cummings (D-MD) about shortages of Cytarabine, a critical drug in her son’s treatment that is now in short supply. We’re pleased to report that Cummings was moved by her story and decided to investigate.

The number of prescription drugs that are in short supply has tripled in recent years. Even more alarming, many of these drugs treat serious, life and death conditions such as cancer. Life-saving drugs are unavailable or being rationed, and patients are suffering. Last month, the AP reported that 15 deaths have been linked to shortages.

As we recently indicated, a number of “gray market” vendors are cashing in on drug shortages. These companies are distributors who buy from manufacturers and sell to pharmacies and hospitals. They are essentially acting as scalpers—stockpiling drugs in short supply and jacking up the prices an average of 650 percent and as much as 4,500 percent.

Cummings’ research found that cytarabine was priced around $12 a vial in the past, but with the shortage it’s being sold by the gray market for $990 per vial. The representative was deeply disturbed by this exorbitant price markup for drugs that can mean the difference between life and death for patients, including children. He has sent inquiries to five companies that appear to be profiting from drug shortages. Cummings is requesting information about where they initially buy the drugs and how much they are profiting from the drug sales.

We at RxRights applaud the efforts of Representative Cummings. We will be very interested to find out how these companies respond--and we'll be sure to report back on this issue.

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