Wall Street Wins Again –
Nov. 19, 2018 – Thankfully, EVZIO isn’t the only version of naloxone — which quickly reverses the effects of an opioid overdose, saving thousands of lives over the years — available. There is also a nasal spray lay people can use as well as generic versions of the drug. Still, this is the story of a company that set a debut price twice as high as outside experts recommended. Then, when the market didn’t materialize as it hoped, didn’t course-correct — instead, EVZIO hiked the price even more.
”Kaléo’s more than 600 percent price increase of EVZIO not only exploits a country in the middle of an opioid crisis,” the Senate report states, “but also American taxpayers who fund government-run health care programs designed to be a safety net for our country’s elderly and most vulnerable.”
Drug prices might be one of the few opportunities for compromise between the new Democratic House and the Republican Senate and the Trump White House. Stories like Kaleo’s are sure to spark calls for action, even if it is an outlier in some ways; most price hikes aren’t for treatments that are used in emergencies to save people’s lives.
