Thursday, December 7, 2023

Rapidly Rising Pharma Price for Lead Poisoning Drug


CNN Health
reported that yet another pharmaceutical company took an old drug and jacked up the price for manufacturing the product.

The new version costs almost 10 times as much as the imported version, about $32,000 per course of treatment.

Rising Pharmaceuticals received FDA approval in August for the drug.  Many gross pricing situations are associated with private equity underwriters (PEU).  Rising's sponsor is H.I.G. Capital.  

Generics Bulletin reported:

December 2021:  Through a transaction valued at approximately $56.4m, the private equity giant H.I.G. Capital has acquired Suven Pharma’s 25% stake in Rising Pharma Holdings.

The company's press release stated:

Rising Pharmaceuticals develops and markets generic and specialty branded pharmaceutical products across various therapeutic categories. The Company employs an asset-light model with a fully outsourced third party network, which provides robust capabilities across multiple dosage forms. With a diversified portfolio of over 125 products and the ability to quickly commercialize complex molecules, Rising Pharmaceuticals is strategically positioned in the U.S. pharmaceuticals market. H.I.G. has partnered with Vimal Kavuru, CEO of Rising Pharmaceuticals, to continue the Company’s strong track record of growth and to support new initiatives, such as M&A and new product launches.

H.I.G.’s investment in Rising Pharmaceuticals represents its latest transaction in the pharma services sector. Other active H.I.G. pharma services investments include Aspire Pharma, BioVectra, Leiters and Taconic BioSciences.

The impact of the huge price rise is hospitals cannot afford to stock the lifesaving drug.  

The greed and leverage boys infected healthcare decades ago.  PEU Report did numerous posts on KKR-HCA, Carlyle Group-ManorCare,  President Obama's PEU healthcare reformer and surprise medical billing (PEU sponsored).

Famed investor Marc Cohodes noted:

Senators launch bipartisan probe of private equity's growing role in U.S. health care.

It's about damn time.  The PEU infection has gone on so long the system may be septic.