The drug Atropine-Diphenoxylate, a commonly prescribed drug that treats diarrhea—known as Lomotil—has had its price brought up from $16 for a 60 ml bottle to $84. The Financial Times reports that West-Ward Pharmaceuticals, the US division of Hikma—a London-based generic pharmaceutical maker—raised the price of six of its drugs. The price hikes ranged from 75 percent to 430 percent.
West-Ward Pharmaceuticals, the U.S. division of London-listed Hikma, increased the prices at the start of August by between 75 percent and 430 percent, for a mean of 237 percent, according to figures seen by the Financial Times.
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Among the six drugs, West-Ward is either the only U.S. supplier or one of two manufacturers.
Lomotil is a drug commonly prescribed to patients suffering diarrhea because of things like chemotherapy treatment. West-Ward’s president of US generics was quick to point out to the Financial Times that the rest of his company’s portfolio includes drugs that have stayed the same price or have dropped in price. He said they had made “price adjustments on a small number of products.” To make them more commercially viable. The issue ends up being that these companies can only make big money on the products they have a monopoly on.