Jersey GOP Senate candidate's company slashed price for cancer drug in Russia while raising it here

[jpak]

https://www.nj.com/politics/index.ssf/2018/08/why_drug_prices_are_an_issue_in_menendez-hugin_slu.html

WASHINGTON -- Celgene Corp. under Bob Hugin, the Republican running for U.S. Senate in New Jersey, raised U.S. prices by 20 percent for its Revlimid cancer drug while cutting them by 45 percent in Russia last year, documents show.

The disparity in drug prices is not unusual, experts said, but the pricing practices could provide another line of attack for U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J., who has found fertile ground plowing through Hugin's tenure at Celgene.

Celgene under Hugin spent a record amount of money to help defeat legislation that would have made it easier for generlc companies to get drug samples, and President Donald Trump's Food and Drug Administration singled out the company for refusing to make those samples available to competitors.

Menendez has used the high cost of Revlimid in the U.S. -- the out of pocket costs for Medicare Part D enrollees was $11,538 in 2016, before last year's price hikes, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation -- to deflect the attacks on his own ethical problems that have been a theme of Hugin's campaign

<more>

[JustAnotherGen]

1. I really hope

The party comes through with this in the advertising. Bob Menendez can't do it alone.

There was an ad shown on Sunday evening locally that got to 'We can't afford Bob Hugin' -

But the second part (lowering it for Russia) was not in there.

AND - in light of Senator McCaskill's alarm last week re Phishing Attempts - I would almost guarantee Sen Menedez's team has been targeted.

2+2 = 4.

I do not care what 45 or Putin say, write, tweet, etc. etc.

2+2 = 4 and Hugin is the 4.