ICYMI: Bob Hugin Admits to Gouging Cancer Patients while at Celgene

Menendez for Senate and Ryan Alexander · July 20, 2018

Greedy drug company CEO defends hiking Rx drug prices 3 times in a year

New Brunswick, NJ – In defending Celgene’s decision to arbitrarily hike the prices of its most successful cancer meds three times in just one year, greedy drug company CEO Bob Hugin admits he gouged cancer patients to make a quick buck. Hugin told the Press of AC, “… if [a drug] becomes more effective and more valuable, then more value should be accrued to the drug.”

“To cut through the CEO jargon, what Bob Hugin really meant is that when patients are most desperate and dependent on the medication, it’s perfectly fine to charge them more, regardless of whether or not they can afford it,” said Menendez Campaign Chairman Michael Soliman. “Coldheartedly charging more for an essential product simply when the need is greatest is classic price gouging, pure and simple. It’s no different than the corner store charging more for water during a drought or a gas station charging more to fill up during a fuel shortage. Greedy CEO Bob Hugin is unapologetic about getting rich off the backs of cancer patients and bilking taxpayers by driving up Medicare and Medicaid costs just to line his already deep pockets. How many cancer patients went hungry or lost their homes because of Bob Hugin’s shameful policies?”

Celgene tripled the price of its most successful drug, Revlimid, under Hugin’s leadership to nearly $19,000 a month, more than ten times the average monthly mortgage payment for a homeowner in Bergen County, the most expensive county in New Jersey to live.

Senator Bob Menendez has cosponsored the SPIKE Act, which would force drug makers to publicly justify steep price hikes for their medications.

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