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“Valeant Pharmaceuticals' Business Model: The Repercussions for Patients and the Health Care Systems”

Click HERE to view Senator Collins’ statement as delivered

Click HERE to view Senator McCaskill’s statement as prepared for delivery

Washington, D.C.—Today, Senate Aging Committee Chairman Susan Collins and Ranking Member Claire McCaskill held the third hearing in a series the Committee is conducting to investigate the sudden, aggressive price spikes of decades-old Rx drugs.

The Committee held the first hearing of the series on December 9, 2015.  From the beginning, the bipartisan investigation has focused on pharmaceutical companies that devised their business models to impose and protect egregious price hikes, and what policy changes are needed to respond to their actions.

The second hearing, held on March 17, 2016,  took an in-depth look inside the monopoly business models of Turing and Retrophin, both formerly headed by Martin Shkreli.

This year alone, Americans are expected to spend more than $328 billion on prescription drugs.  Of this amount, individuals will pay about $50 billion out-of-pocket.  The federal government will pick up another $110 billion in payments through Medicare, Medicaid, Veterans Affairs, and other programs.

 

Panel One:

 

Berna Heyman, Wilson Disease patient, and retired Associate Dean of Libraries, College of William & Mary, Williamsburg, Virginia.  Click HERE to view her prepared testimony.

 

Dr. Frederick K. Askari, M.D. PhD., Associate Professor, and Director, Wilson Disease Center of Excellence, University of Michigan Health System, Ann Arbor, Michigan.  Click HERE to view his prepared testimony.

 

Dr. Richard Fogel, M.D., FACC, FHRS, Chief Clinical Officer, St. Vincent, Indianapolis, Indiana.  Click HERE to view his prepared testimony.

 Panel Two:

 

Bill Ackman, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Pershing Square Capital Management LP, New York, New York; Director, Valeant Pharmaceuticals International, Inc., Bridgewater, New Jersey.  Click HERE to view his prepared testimony.

Howard Schiller, Current Director, former Chief Financial Officer, and former Interim Chief Executive Officer, Valeant Pharmaceuticals International, Inc., Bridgewater, New Jersey.  Click HERE to view his prepared testimony.

 

J. Michael Pearson, Chief Executive Officer, Valeant Pharmaceuticals International, Inc., Bridgewater, New Jersey.  Click HERE to view his prepared testimony.

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