WASHINGTON (AP) – A Senate committee launched an investigation Wednesday into exorbitant drug price hikes by Turing Pharmaceuticals and three other companies, responding to public anxiety over rising prices for critical medicines.
The Senate’s special committee on aging requested documents and information from Turing, Valeant Pharmaceuticals and two other drugmakers already under scrutiny for recent price spikes.
Notably, the senators called for a face-to-face meeting with Turing Pharmaceuticals CEO, Martin Shkreli, “as soon as it is practicable.” Shkreli has become the public face of the pricing controversy, after his company raised the price of Daraprim by 5,000 percent after obtaining rights to the drug. The drug is the only U.S.-approved treatment for a deadly parasitic infection called toxoplasmosis.
Turing said in an emailed statement: “We are reviewing the committee’s request and, as we have and continue to do with similar congressional inquiries, we look forward to having an open and honest dialogue about drug pricing.”
Separately, Democrats in the House of Representatives called on their Republican colleagues to summon the CEOs of Turing and Valeant to a congressional hearing and issue subpoenas to collect documents from their companies.