AbbVie Pharmaceutical Inflates Prices of Two Major Drugs

According to a study published on Tuesday, the pharmaceutical giant AbbVie has dramatically increased rates for patients in the United States who take the drugs Humira and Imbruvica over the past two decades. According to the committee, the price hikes resulted in billions of dollars in corporate income and large salaries for business executives.

The 43-page report states, “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 panel examined more than 170,000 internal records, documents, and correspondence related to the drugs over the last 18 years, according to the study. Last year, Chairwoman Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., released a subpoena for the records after the company declined to comply with a previous order.AbbVie CEO Richard Gonzalez testified before the committee on Tuesday, saying the organisation offers financial support to consumers who have trouble paying for their medications, spends billions on research and growth, and blames the Medicare Part D program’s framework for certain patients’ high costs.

Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-New York, questioned Gonzalez on why the company was raising prices in the United States while reducing them overseas. Humira, a medication used to treat rheumatoid arthritis, other autoimmune disorders, and gastrointestinal problems like Crohn’s disease, was first published by Abbott Laboratories in 2003. According to the study, the company has increased the price 27 times and by more than 470 percent since then, with an annual supply now costing about $77,000.