“The ugly, dirty truth”
This excerpt of a 2015 Forbes interview with former Turing Pharmaceutical CEO Martin Shkreli pretty well sums up the problem with Big Pharma’s approach to drug pricing %%firstname(today)%%:
“Shkreli was painfully clear: His job isn’t making patients better. It’s making the most dollars.
‘My shareholders expect me to make the most profit,’ Shkreli said, a theme that he returned to again and again. ‘That’s the ugly, dirty truth.'”
But here’s the real ugly, dirty truth: When patients can’t afford the life-saving prescriptions they need, people die. That’s not hyperbole — it’s just how it is.
And when Big Pharmaceuticals raise their prices for no other reason than to pad their profits, that’s price gouging.
Sherrod has a plan to stop price gouging of prescription drugs.
- Require drug companies to report increases to drug prices and justify those hikes, and
- Penalize companies for unjustified hikes.
