A group of lawmakers is urging the National Institutes of Health and HHS to lower the cost of Medivation's and Astellas Pharma's prostate cancer drug Xtandi, according to a Reuters report.
The request comes via a letter signed by a number of lawmakers, including Democratic U.S. presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Reps. Lloyd Doggett (D-Texas) and Peter Welch (D-Vt.).
In the letter, addressed to HHS Secretary Sylvia Mathews Burwell and NIH Director Francis Collins, the lawmakers called on NIH to hold a public hearing to consider overriding the patent on Xtandi to make the drug available for a reduced amount, according to the report.
The average wholesale price for the prostate cancer drug varies by country. The average wholesale price in the U.S. is more than $129,000, while the drug is sold in Japan and Sweden for $39,000 and in Canada for $30,000, the lawmakers' letter states, according to Reuters.
Rep. Doggett, co-chairman of the House Democratic Caucus Prescription Drug Task Force, noted that federal funds supported the development of Xtandi. Therefore, the drug "should be available at a reasonable price," he said, according to the report.
Reuters was not able to reach Medivation, or spokesmen for the NIH and HHS, for comment.
But a spokesman for Astellas, Tyler Marciniak, told the publication 81 percent of privately insured patients paid $25 or less out of pocket per month for Xtandi last year and 79 percent of Medicare patients paid nothing out of pocket. The spokesman also noted that Astellas provides Xtandi for free to eligible patients who are uninsured or are underinsured and have an annual adjusted household income of $100,000 or less, according to the report.
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