April 18, 2019: A Border Wall Won't Stop the Worst Drug Dealers

 

4/18/19: Yesterday, our subject was crooks. Today, let’s talk healthcare. That is: Crooks. Whistleblowers have accused Questcor Pharmaceuticals (now Mallinckrodt) of lying to the Food and Drug Administration and bribing doctors to boost sales of H.P. Acthar Gel, used to treat rare infant seizure disorders. (See: 4/17/19.)

This product can be yours at a bargain price!

 

A vial of Acthar gel now goes for $39,000. 

Why risk bribery? It turns out the price of the gel has increased a bit since 2000, when a vial cost $40. 

To put it plainly, a quick chase of facts across the internet shows that raising prices has been good for the bottom line, even if bribery was required. During the first half of this decade the value of Questcor stock rose 600%. The CEO gave his daughter, who also worked for the company, a $700,000 raise in one year. Mallinckrodt, once it acquired Questcor, had to pay a $100 million fine for blocking a competing drug that could have been used to treat the disorder from reaching market. That didn’t stop CEO Mark Trudeau from earning $9.7 million in 2015. 

After all, a vial of Acthar goes for $39,000 today. The government (i.e. you the taxpayer) picks up most of the $2 billion in annual cost. 

 

POSTSCRIPT: Two whistleblowers later allege that the company bribed doctors to prescribe their product, as part of a “multi-tiered strategy” to bilk the government and balloon profits. 

And you thought increasing the price of Acthar gel by 97,000% was just good business practice.

 

BLOGGER’S NOTE (3/7/22): Mallinckrodt agrees to pay a $234 million fine for fixing and inflating prices. 

This is not to be confused with the $100 million fine the company paid in 2017, also for fixing prices on Acthar. 

Nor should we ignore the 2019 lawsuit filed by Humana, over price fixing by the company. Humana claimed Acthar was Mallinckrodt’s “billion-dollar golden goose,” and that Humana, alone, had overpaid $700 million, because of illegal price-fixing. That lawsuit was ended when Mallinckrodt filed for bankruptcy. 

So, I guess, a win for Mallinckrodt? 

And, finally, we should mention the $1.75 billion fine the crime syndicate – I mean, the company – agreed to pay in February, 2022, for its part in flooding the streets of America with opioids.