#3: Drug Prices Soar – Bigger than Turing
Martin Shkreli, founder and chief executive of Turing Pharmaceuticals, made headlines when he tried to justify raising the price of the drug, Daraprim, from $13.50 to $750 a tablet in 2015.
This was not the only example of exponential rate hikes in the pharmaceutical industry. For example, a course of treatment with a drug from Gilead Sciences called Sovaldi now costs $84,000. The high costs of drugs has caused double digit pharmacy cost trends nationwide. Even generic drugs are seeing higher than expected increases in price causing congressional investigations. Pharmaceutical companies contend that drugs are more costly to make compared to last year. However, some industry experts are not convinced and believe mergers and acquisitions are to blame.