Pharma giant AbbVie funds ads attacking prescription drug bill — after hiking prices up to 470% – By Igor Derysh (Salon) / May 26 2021
New congressional report shows that AbbVie inflated drug prices — then poured cash into dark-money ads on Rx bill
Pharmaceutical giant AbbVie inflated prices for widely-used drugs while its executives pocketed growing bonuses, according to a new report from the House Oversight and Reform Committee. Now it’s helping fund ads attacking legislation that would lower prescription drug costs.
The committee’s two-year investigation found that AbbVie “pursued a variety of tactics to increase drug sales while raising prices for Americans, including exploiting the patent system to extend its market monopoly, abusing orphan drug protections to further block competition, and engaging in anticompetitive pricing practices.”
The company raised the cost of the popular drug Humira, which is used to treat rheumatoid arthritis and other ailments, 27 times and by a total of more than 470%, according to the report. An annual supply of the drug now costs $77,000. AbbVie, along with Jannsen Biotech, also hiked the price of Imburvica, a drug used to treat certain cancers, by 82%, raising the cost of an annual supply to between $181,529 to $242,039, according to the committee.
The company also invested in hundreds of patents for Humira and cut deals with competitors to prevent them from being sold for less in the U.S., even though the FDA has approved six similar drugs, according to the report.
