It's the same story with a different drug.
Just a few weeks after
Mylan NV faced public outcry about the skyrocketing price of EpiPens, another pharmaceutical company - Valeant - is under fire for the price of something known as Calcium EDTA.
Used to treat serious and potentially fatal cases of lead poisoning, Calcium EDTA is a vital part of any poison control inventory.
Recently, however, it's become very - very expensive.
After
Valeant purchased the rights to Calcium EDTA in 2013 - it lifted the price of a standard 7 pack from $950 to more than $7,000.
It then hiked the price even higher from that $7,000 mark to more than $26,000.
As result, many hospitals and poison control centers are having trouble affording a drug that they used to have no problem acquiring.
This, of course, is just the latest pricing controversy facing Valeant Pharmaceuticals.
Back in April, its executives were grilled by
Elizabeth Warren and other Senators on Capitol for doing pretty much the same thing with different drugs.
Of course - what we're seeing here with Calcium EDTA is just one example of systemwide problem with the American health system - a system that forces us to pay more for lifesaving drugs than anyone else in the developed world.
Talk about exceptionalism!
-Thom
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here.)
