Lomustine is a medicine, which is taking for cancer (such as brain tumors or Hodgkin’s disease), increased in price by 1400%, as reported by the Wall Street Journal. The drug more than 40 years, and with the end of the patent protection ceased to be available version, which is sold under the original brand name CeeNU.
Lomustine sold by the firm Bristol-Myers Squibb under the name CeeNU to 2014 year at a price of $50 a pill. In 2013 year, the pharmaceutical company sold the drug at that time still a startup, the company is NextSource Biotechnology, LLC. The company increased the price of medication up to 768 $, which is more than 15 times higher than the price under the old owner.
According to the analysis Truveen Health Analytics and Elsevier to WSJ, NextSource this year raised the price of drugs, after rebranding and changing the name to Gleostine. The cost has increased by 20 percent in August and 12 in November. The price increase made the drug, vital for some patients, inaccessible to low-income patients.
CEO of NextSource Robert Dicresce told the journal that the increase in price justified by the cost of production, and that, like other pharmaceutical companies, they give discounts and financial support of those who can not afford the medicine. NextSource representative did not provide comments by e-mail.
In an interview for the Wall Street Journal , Henry S. Friedman, Professor of neurosurgery at Duke University School of Medicine, accused NextSource «price gouging», adding: «People will not buy these medicines, they have to spend a lot of money».
For many cancer patients the rise of the price of the drug will become painful. According to Bloomberg News, many patients do not receive medications on time because of delays in payments from both private insurers and Medicare with Medicaid.
For example, Novartis (NVS), the Swiss pharmaceutical manufacturer, requires 475,000 $ per patient for the treatment of certain cancers of the blood using the drug Kymriah. Another drug against blood cancer, developed by Gilead Sciences (GILD) is called Yescarta and costs 373,000 $.
