Newly released documents show profit-seeking behind price hikes at Turing, Valeant

By Sarah N. Lynch and Caroline Humer
WASHINGTON/NEW YORK, Feb 2 (Reuters) - A decision by Turing
Pharmaceuticals to raise the price of a lifesaving drug by 5,000
percent drove up some patient co-pays to as high as $16,000,
according to excerpts of documents that congressional committee
members released on Tuesday.
The excerpts, which are highlighted in memos released by
Democrats on the powerful U.S. House of Representatives
Committee in Oversight and Government Reform, give a rare
behind-the-scenes glimpse into the business decisions that drove
both Turing and Canada-based Valeant Pharmaceuticals (N:VRX) VRX.TO to
drastically increase the price of certain drugs.
The increases sparked a major public outcry, particularly
against Turing, which was until recently was led by the colorful
and often maligned CEO Martin Shkreli.
Valeant, meanwhile, is facing a federal investigation over
drug pricing after it came under fire for increasing the prices
of one heart medicine by 525 percent and another by 212 percent.
The documents provided to the committee suggest Valeant has
also hiked the prices of an additional 20 drugs by more than 200
percent between 2014 and 2015.
Shkreli is slated to appear before the committee on Thursday,
along with Valeant interim Chief Executive Officer Howard
Schiller.
The excerpts released on Tuesday show efforts by Shkreli and
his staff at Turing to try to maximize profits with the purchase
of Daraprim, which is used to treat a parasitic infection called
toxoplasmosis, while warding off any public relations backlash
that could come from HIV and AIDs patients who often rely on the
drug.
"Very good. Nice work as usual. $1bn here we come," Shkreli
wrote in a May email to the board.
Not long after Turing acquired the rights to the drug,
reports began to pour in about patients who were seeing their
co-pays skyrocket.
In one August email, a Walgreens WBA.O executive wrote to
inquire if the company would grant exceptions for "those
patients with a co-pay over the approved amount of $10,000."