Celgene Accused of Charity Scheme
Celgene has donated many millions to charities for parents who can’t afford expensive cancer medications. However recent allegations show that it is now being looked at as a core business scheme to gain billions.
Does the scheme arise from surging drug prices?
” Celgene’s best-selling product, Revlimid, treats multiple myeloma and other blood cancers. It’s one of the world’s most expensive cancer drugs, at an average wholesale price of $644 per pill, according to Connecture Inc., a maker of price-comparison software. For Medicare patients, the out-of-pocket expenses for a year’s supply can approach $10,000.
After they donated millions of dollars, Celgene coordinated with those charities to make sure that their medicines were covered which violates federal law. This enabled them to collect billions of dollars in reimbursements from Medicare and multiple other health care plans.
A Celgene spokesman said in an email that the allegations are baseless and in recent legal filings:
”… which makes the blockbuster cancer pill Revlimid, said that it gives to charities “because one of Celgene’s core values is to ensure that cancer patients have access to medicines they need” and it does not coordinate with the charities on how they spend the money. Criticism aimed at its donations is “a classic example of ‘no good deed shall go unpunished,”’ the company’s lawyers wrote in one filing.
Celegene is just one of the latest pharma titans to undergo this pressure in connections with patient-assistance charities.
” Fueled chiefly by donations from drugmakers, the top seven such non-profits more than doubled in size from 2010 to 2014, when they reported more than $1.1 billion in contributions.”
Since the increasingly large surge in drug prices, all pharmaceuticals donations to these charities have given them a shield in the sense of poor PR against those who are seeking lower priced medicines. In addition, Celgene received a subpoena last December.
What are your thoughts on these allegations and how will it effect the company?
