Senator Bernie Sanders (D-Vt.) responded to news of Pfizer's $14 billion acquisition of Medivation by calling on the drug industry to lower the cost of prescription drugs, reported CNN.
On Monday, the senator tweeted, "My message to Pfizer and the entire pharmaceutical industry is clear: The era of charging unconscionable prices must end."
Medivation, a San Francisco-based cancer drug company, is best known for its prostate cancer treatment Xtandi. In March, Senator Sanders joined fellow lawmakers in asking the federal government to force Medivation to lower the price of the drug, which costs "$129,000 — four times more than in other countries."
"Xtandi was developed at the University of California, Los Angeles, through taxpayer-supported research grants from the U.S. Army and NIH. The medication, which is sold by Japanese drug maker Astellas Pharma, has an average wholesale price in the U.S. of more than $129,000 annually. It is sold in Japan and Sweden for $39,000 and in Canada for $30,000," the lawmakers said in a statement.
Pfizer and Medivation declined CNN's requests to comment on the cost of Xtandi.
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