Two lawmakers are urging Jaguar Health to reverse a nearly 220 percent price hike on an HIV drug that could be used to help treat some side effects in patients that have COVID-19, according to RollCall.
U.S. House Oversight and Reform Chairwoman Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., and Rep. Jackie Speier, D-Calif., wrote to Jaguar Health, criticizing the drugmaker for raising the price of the drug from $688 to $2,206 per bottle in early April.
The drug, Mytesi, is approved to alleviate diarrhea and other gastrointestinal side effects in patients with HIV who are taking antiretroviral drugs.
In March, Jaguar Health applied for emergency use authorization from the FDA to use Mytesi to treat similar symptoms in coronavirus patients, who may be receiving antiretroviral drugs.
The authorization was denied by the FDA April 7, but the drugmaker is still in talks with the federal government about how it could be used to help COVID-19 patients.
"The timing of Jaguar’s price increase raises questions about whether this decision was connected with the company’s expectation that it eventually could market Mytesi to treat coronavirus patients," the May 4 letter reads.
The lawmakers are asking the drugmaker to provide internal communications regarding the price hike and are calling on the drugmaker to "reverse this drastic price increase," according to the letter.