Page 7 - Aruba Today

U.S. NEWS A7
Thursday 3 December 2015

Report says US drug maker was US Financial Front:
focused on profits, not patients
Report predicts more Atlantic City closures
RICARDO ZALDIVAR
Associated Press WAYNE PARRY shrinks, some of the remain- ing the Taj Mahal, causing
WASHINGTON (AP) — The makers of a breakthrough Associated Press ing casinos have seen rev- it to close.
drug for hepatitis C put profits before patients in ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) — enues increase,” Moody’s Caesars and Bally’s are
pricing the $1,000 pill that cures the liver-wasting A Wall Street firm predicts wrote. “But we expect in- part of a unit of Caesars En-
disease, U.S. Senate investigators said Tuesday. a new wave of casino ex- creased competition will tertainment, which is in
A bipartisan report from the Senate Finance Com- pansion in the Northeastern keep the heat on incum- Chapter 11 bankruptcy as
mittee concluded that California-based Gilead Sci- U.S. will lead to more casino bents, and that number of well. At least eight new ca-
ences was focused on maximizing revenue even as closings in Atlantic City. casinos in Atlantic City will sinos are expected to open
the company’s own analysis showed a lower price Moody’s Investors Service likely continue to shrink. by the end of 2018 in Mary-
would allow more patients to be treated.
Although the report focused on just one drug that This photo shows the exterior of the Trump Taj Mahal casino in Atlantic City, N.J. A Wall Street firm
has made headlines in the last few years, the law- predicts a new wave of casino expansion in the Northeastern U.S. will lead to more casino closings
makers who led the investigation said their findings in Atlantic City.
are a warning about what’s to come with other
high-priced treatments for cancer, diabetes, Al- (AP Photo/Wayne Parry)
zheimer’s and HIV.
“I’m telling you, this is the future,” said Sen. Ron said in a report this week it We expect more casino land, Massachusetts, New
Wyden, a Democrat, “The future is going to be expects the eight new ca- closures to occur in Atlan- York and Pennsylvania. Be-
about specialty drugs.” sinos, altogether worth $5 tic City as some struggle sides Atlantic City casinos,
In a statement, Gilead said it disagreed with the re- billion, that will be opening to grow their business and the report said, the new
port’s conclusions. in the region over the next face additional competi- businesses will hurt existing
The company’s first breakthrough pill was called three years will further stress tion.” The Taj Mahal is tran- gambling halls in Maryland,
Sovaldi; priced at $1,000 per pill, or $84,000 for a full business in Atlantic City, sitioning from the company New York, Pennsylvania
course of treatment. Gilead has since introduced a where four of the 12 gam- once owned by Republi- and Rhode Island.
more expensive next-generation pill called Harvoni, bling halls went out of busi- can presidential candidate The report noted that the
which is highly effective and simpler for patients to ness in 2014. The closings Donald Trump to billionaire MGM National Harbor ca-
take. That one is priced at $94,500 for a course of were due in large part to investor Carl Icahn. Its cur- sino, the first of the eight
treatment. ever-increasing competi- rent owner, Trump Enter- projects expected to be
“Gilead responsibly and thoughtfully priced Sovaldi tion in the region. tainment Resorts, is waiting up and running, by fall
and Harvoni,” said the company’s statement, not- Moody’s did not predict for an appeals court ruling 2016, will be located a little
ing that more than 600,000 patients have been how many will go belly- on whether it will have to more than 10 miles south
treated worldwide since the introduction of Sovaldi up, but said the Trump Taj restore health insurance of Washington, where it
two years ago. Mahal, Caesars and Bally’s and pension benefits it stands to hurt Maryland
But Wyden and Sen. Chuck Grassley, a Republi- “are already on the brink.” ended for workers in Octo- Live! And in Pennsylvania, a
can, said their 18-month investigation found that Each is in Chapter 11 bank- ber 2014. Icahn has said if second Philadelphia casino
the high price tag significantly limited patient ac- ruptcy. the ruling goes against the will affect Sugarhouse and
cess and heaped huge costs on federal and state “As the number of casinos company, he will stop fund- Harrah’s Philadelphia.q
health care programs.
Hepatitis C is a viral infection that affects some 3
million people in the U.S. and claims more lives here
than AIDS. Patients say the disease feels like a bad
flu that never goes away. While the illness advances
gradually, it can ultimately destroy the liver, requir-
ing a transplant to save the patient’s life. The virus
is primarily spread by contact with infected blood.
More than three out of four infected adults are
baby boomers, the age group now entering Medi-
care. That health program will spend will spend
more than $9 billion this year on drugs for hepati-
tis C, according to government estimates released
prior to the Senate report.
Although professional medical societies recom-
mend the Gilead drugs as first-line treatments for
anyone with hepatitis C, the report found that the
high cost resulted in less than 3 percent of the po-
tentially eligible Medicaid beneficiaries getting
treatment in 2014. Medicaid is the federal-state
health program for low-income people.q