Old-Drug Price Hike ‘Perversion of the System,’ Biogen CEO Says
- Scangos is chairman-elect of drug industry lobby group
- Biotech index enters bear market after week of declines
This article is for subscribers only.
Turing Pharmaceuticals AG’s decision to raise the price of a decades-old drug it company acquired by 50-fold was a “perversion of the system,” said the leader of one of the U.S. largest biotechnology companies and the incoming head of the drug industry’s lobby group.
The pricing decision by Martin Shkreli, Turing’s founder and chief executive officer, “dropped down a storm on the whole industry" that drugmakers don’t deserve, Biogen Inc. Chief Executive Officer George Scangos said Friday in a telephone interview. He called the move by Turing’s CEO “arrogant” and “naïve.”