California state officials have fined a dozen drugmakers a total of $17.5 million in the last six months for failing to report drug price hikes, STAT reported.
California has had a disclosure law since January 2019 that requires drugmakers to give state officials prior notice of price hikes and explanations for any increases.
Critics of the law have argued that relying on list prices when looking at drug costs can be misleading because they don't reflect what consumers actually pay for the drugs after insurance, according to STAT.
Of the $17.5 million in fines in the last six months, the state has only collected $4.8 million so far. Some drugmakers settled fines for lower amounts, and others have not reached a settlement or paid the fine, STAT reported.
The largest penalty, $3.6 million, was given to Collegium Pharmaceutical. Celgene was fined $3.5 million but settled for $600,000, and Supernus Pharmaceutical was fined for $2.4 million, but a company spokesperson told STAT it is appealing the penalty.
The fines were based on the number of days the drugmakers failed to report price hikes.
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