New Brunswick, NJ – The Menendez for Senate Campaign today released a new television ad entitled “Greed” highlighting how drug company CEO Bob Hugin made his fortune ripping off cancer patients.
“It’s time New Jerseyans begin to see and understand who the real Bob Hugin is—the face of corporate greed,” said Menendez for Senate Communications Director Steve Sandberg. “Bob Hugin doesn’t want to talk about how he lined his own pockets to the tune of millions by gouging cancer patients. He doesn’t want to explain why his company spent millions to block efforts to lower the high cost of his prescription drugs. And Bob Hugin certainly doesn’t want to address why he paid $280 million to settle Medicare fraud and other charges brought by the U.S. Department of Justice. It’s time to hold Bob Hugin accountable for what he did to get rich off the sick, the suffering and the American taxpayer.”
TRANSCRIPT:
Disclaimer: I’m Bob Menendez and I approve this message.
Voiceover: Corporate greed looks like… Drug company CEO Bob Hugin.
Bob Hugin said the more people need a drug the more he should charge.
So, Hugin raised the price of his cancer drug three times in one year—$80 million dollars.
When patients had no choice.
Yet, he cut those prices in half for Russia.
Hugin made millions. Cancer patients paid the price.
Bob Hugin will never be on our side.
As the head of Celgene, Hugin arbitrarily hiked the price of the pharmaceutical giant’s most successful cancer drug three times in one year, while simultaneously giving cancer patients in Russia a 45% discount on the same drug. During the same period, Hugin personally made $48 million over his last 15 months at Celgene. In defending his pricing decisions, Hugin admitted to price gouging American cancer patients, telling the Press of AC, “… if [a drug] becomes more effective and more valuable, then more value should be accrued to the drug.”
Hugin also paid $280 million to settle federal charges brought by the U.S. Dept. Of Justice (DOJ) that Celgene under his watch defrauded Medicare, promoted two of its most successful drugs off-label for uses not approved by the FDA, misled doctors and patients about the drugs’ effectiveness and side effects, and paid kickbacks to physicians to get them to prescribe the drugs.
The Trump FDA has also cited Celgene, during Hugin’s reign, as the #1 offender in blocking the manufacturing of lower-cost generics, manipulating the market and artificially increasing demand for their drug. Hugin and Celgene also spent millions lobbying Congress to torpedo legislation that would have made it easier for generics to come to market, giving patients lower-cost alternatives to Celgene’s high-priced drugs.
###