Wednesday, December 24, 2008
December 24 News Story 2
Lawsuit Over Premature Infants' Heart Drug Being Faced By Illinois Company
Recent reports have surfaced to the effect that the U.S. Federal Trade Commission says in a civil lawsuit filed Tuesday that an Illinois-based Ovation Pharmaceuticals illegally maintained a monopoly on the only two medicines approved to treat a potentially life-threatening heart defect in premature infants.
As the published information says, the FTC said that after buying the rights to the two medicines (NeoProfen and Indocin) a few years ago, the company boosted the drugs' prices by nearly 1,300 percent.
In addition, the Associated Press is quoted as saying that the lawsuit seeks to prevent Ovation from maintaining simultaneous interest in the two drugs and also seeks forfeiture of all unlawfully obtained profits.
It is said that ovation set the price for both medications at about $500. Before it was acquired by Ovation, Indocin cost $36. Each year, the two drugs are used to treat an estimated 30,000 babies with the heart defect called patent ductus arteriousus. The only other option to drug treatment is surgery, which costs far more than the drugs and carries a risk of serious complications.
The FTC said in the lawsuit that: "As a result, hospitals have little choice but to pay Ovation's price. The artificially high prices that hospitals are forced to pay ultimately raise costs for families, tax-supported programs such as Medicaid, and other public and private insurers."
To conclude the AP reported that ovation disputed the FTC's allegations.
Recent reports have surfaced to the effect that the U.S. Federal Trade Commission says in a civil lawsuit filed Tuesday that an Illinois-based Ovation Pharmaceuticals illegally maintained a monopoly on the only two medicines approved to treat a potentially life-threatening heart defect in premature infants.
As the published information says, the FTC said that after buying the rights to the two medicines (NeoProfen and Indocin) a few years ago, the company boosted the drugs' prices by nearly 1,300 percent.
In addition, the Associated Press is quoted as saying that the lawsuit seeks to prevent Ovation from maintaining simultaneous interest in the two drugs and also seeks forfeiture of all unlawfully obtained profits.
It is said that ovation set the price for both medications at about $500. Before it was acquired by Ovation, Indocin cost $36. Each year, the two drugs are used to treat an estimated 30,000 babies with the heart defect called patent ductus arteriousus. The only other option to drug treatment is surgery, which costs far more than the drugs and carries a risk of serious complications.
The FTC said in the lawsuit that: "As a result, hospitals have little choice but to pay Ovation's price. The artificially high prices that hospitals are forced to pay ultimately raise costs for families, tax-supported programs such as Medicaid, and other public and private insurers."
To conclude the AP reported that ovation disputed the FTC's allegations.
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