Valeant Pharmaceuticals and Turing Pharmaceuticals said to have put profits ahead of patients

Valeant Pharmaceuticals International and Turing Pharmaceuticals AG, both under congressional investigation in the US over drug price increases, were focused on making money before helping patients, according to members of Congress.

“Very good. Nice work as usual. $1bn here we come,” said former Turing chief executive Martin Shkreli in an email to the chairman of Turing’s board of directors on May 27, after the firm had made progress toward acquiring Daraprim, according to a memo from House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Democrats, led by Representative Elijah Cummings.

Turing Pharmaceuticals raised the price of a lifesaving drug by 5,000% and drove up some patient payments to as high as $16,000,

Committee Democrats had requested documents from Turing and Valeant, amounting to 300,000 pages.

Mr Cummings said they “confirm what Americans... have experienced firsthand for years: That many drug companies are lining their pockets at the expense of some of the most vulnerable families in our nation”.

Valeant is facing a federal investigation over drug pricing after it came under fire for increasing the prices of one heart medicine by 525% and another by 212%.

The documents provided to the committee suggest Valeant has also hiked the prices of an additional 20 drugs by more than 200% between 2014 and 2015.

Mr Shkreli is to appear before the committee tomorrow, along with interim Valeant CEO Howard Schiller.