Another day, another ethically dubious drug price hike

A medicine that’s been around for decades will see its price spike, from about $1,300 for a 10-pack to more than $10,000, STAT’s Ed Silverman writes. Why?

Belcher Pharmaceuticals developed a version of dehydrated alcohol — an injectable medicine used to treat chronic pain and prevent infections in people who receive nutrients intravenously. Before achieving approval in 2018, however, it applied for and received orphan status for the drug, as it was testing it in a hyper-rare indication. So now, other companies cannot market dehydrated alcohol until 2025.

A Belcher exec argued that it invested “multiple millions of dollars” in Ablysinol (we at the Readout can’t help but read that each time as “Abysmal”), which justifies the price hike.