Contact: press@baldwin.senate.gov, 202-224-6225

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senators Tammy Baldwin, Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) and Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) wrote today to the CEO of NextSource Pharmaceuticals demanding the company take immediate steps to lower the price of a life-saving cancer drug that has skyrocketed by 1,400 percent since the company acquired it in 2013. Lomustine, which is used to treat brain tumors and Hodgkin lymphoma, cost just $50 per capsule when NextSource acquired the drug. By January of this year, each capsule cost $922, putting it out of reach for many patients. 

“We are troubled that these exploitative pricing practices follow a disturbing trend of systematic price increases by pharmaceutical companies on decades-old, lifesaving off-patent drugs,” the senators wrote. “These actions have resulted in delayed treatment and extreme financial burden for many families that have already been stricken by severe, life-threatening illnesses.”

Senator Baldwin has worked across party lines to hold pharmaceutical corporations accountable for rising drug costs. Senators Baldwin and John McCain (R-AZ) introduced the FAIR Drug Pricing Act last year to address skyrocketing prescription drug prices by requiring transparency for pharmaceutical corporations that plan to increase drug prices. In February, Senators Baldwin and McCain sent a letter to President Trump urging him to hold the pharmaceutical industry accountable and make good on his promise to lower the skyrocketing prescription drug prices that American families are struggling to afford. 

The full text of the letter is available here

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