Hugin doubled price of live-saving cancer drug, report says

Group finds GOP Senate candidate blocked generic drug, made $140 million profit by keeping prices high


Jackie Trapp was diagnosed with multiple myeloma, a terminal but treatable blood cancer in 2015. After chemotherapy and a bone marrow transplant, she was put on Revlimid, a live-saving cancer drug that costs $21,197 a month. Even with good health insurance, Revlimid costs her nearly $20,000 a year in out of pocket expenses.

“We’ve blown through the bank accounts. They’re pretty much empty. We had to refinance our house,” Trapp said about the cost of the drug, which is manufactured by New Jersey-based pharmaceutical giant Celgene.

The profits off Revlimid made Bob Hugin, the former Celgene chairman and CEO, more than $140 million, according to a report issued today by Patients for Affordable Drugs Action, a Super PAC which is spending a reported $1.5 million on a TV ad that opposes Hugin’s campaign for the United States Senate.

Hugin is spending some of that money to self-finance his challenge to two-term Democratic U.S. Senator Bob Menendez.

Read more: https://newjerseyglobe.com/fr/hugin-doubled-price-of-live-saving-cancer-drug-report-says/