Bernie Sanders presses FDA to allow lower-cost versions of $375K drug

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) this week urged the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to permit pharmacies and manufacturers to distribute lower-cost versions of a $375,000 drug that treats a neuromuscular disorder, Reuters reported.

The drug is currently listed at $375,000 a year and is sold by Catalyst Pharmaceuticals under the name Firdapse. It treats the autoimmune disease Lambert-Eaton Myasthenic Syndrome (LEMS). 

Reuters reported that prior to the release of Firdapse, patients could access the same drug for free from New Jersey-based drug company Jacobus Pharmaceuticals.

{mosads}In a letter to the FDA, Sanders called the price “shocking” and requested that FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb announce that the agency would not take action against pharmacies and manufacturers who provide lower-cost versions of the drug.

Sanders, who is running for president, also provided a copy of the letter this week to Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Alex Azar during a private meeting, according to Reuters.

FDA spokeswoman Jennifer Rodriguez told Reuters in a statement that the FDA received Sanders’s letter and planned to respond to him. HHS also told Reuters the same.

Earlier this month, Sanders wrote a letter to Catalyst Pharmaceuticals calling the price of Firdapse “an immoral exploitation of patients who need this medication.”

The pharmaceutical industry and prescription drug prices have come under scrutiny in recent years, with President Trump and lawmakers on both of the sides of the aisle calling for more affordable drugs to be available to patients.

In October, Trump announced a proposal to base payments for certain drugs off of lower prices in other countries, a proposal that more aggressively moved to have the government intervene to lower drug prices.