Washington Post – 8/25/20
“The HHS Office of Inspector General, responding to a complaint by the advocacy groups Public Citizen and Lower Drug Prices Now, said in July that Slaoui would be in his post for longer than 130 days, which did not qualify him as a “special government employee,” a designation that would have required him to make financial disclosures and follow conflict-of-interest rules.”
As President Trump and Republican delegates arrive today in Charlotte for the Republican National Convention, they’ll be greeted by a roving billboard criticizing Trump for failing to help seniors access their prescription medicines.
WASHINGTON, DC – Today, Lower Drug Prices Now released a new report, “Pandemic Profiteering: How Pharma Insiders Are Using News of Government Awards and Trial Results to Boost Their Stock Prices and Profiteer Without a Vaccine,” that shows how Big Pharma corporate executives and industry insiders are profiteering from the COVID-19 pandemic. The report highlights how executives and insiders are using news of Operation Warp Speed contracts as well as clinical trial results to drive speculation, inflate stock prices and pocket hundreds of millions without any guarantee of a safe and effective vaccine.”
PBS NJTV – 8/13/20
In New Jersey, Assemblyman Jack McKeon says the state has battled the federal government to maintain a robust state exchange and has even sponsored a bill to tax plans for individuals and companies as a way to subsidize plans for poor and middle-class residents.
“The Trump administration has abandoned its responsibility to the American people, opting once again to funnel billions of taxpayer dollars to a corporation that has refused to comply with basic disclosure requirements and has no proven track record. At a time when the public is desperate for a safe and successful vaccine, this administration continues to undermine the American people’s trust, handing over more of our tax dollars to corporations focused on inflating profits, not public health.”
Insider NJ – 8/12/20
“The time for Congress to take on drug corporations’ monopoly price-gouging is long overdue,” said Margarida Jorge, Campaign Director for Lower Drug Prices Now. “As long as Congress keeps handing taxpayer funding for new COVID medicines and treatments to drug corporations with no strings attached, drug corporations will do what they always do: price gouge patients to inflate their profits just as they have in every other epidemic and public health crisis. Lawmakers must stand up to big Pharma business-as-usual and pass legislation to hold them accountable so that medicine is affordable for all.”
This week U.S. Senators Tina Smith (D-Minn.) and Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) introduced legislation to ensure that any taxpayer-funded vaccine or treatment for coronavirus (COVID-19) proven to be safe and effective will be accessible, affordable, and available to all individuals.
