U.S. Asks States to Probe Flu Vaccine Pricing

U.S. health officials urged states on Thursday to investigate reports of price gouging by companies distributing scarce supplies of influenza vaccine and to prosecute offenders.

“It is extremely disturbing to learn of reports of price gouging by immoral individuals looking to make a quick buck off a public health challenge,” Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson said in a statement. “I am encouraging the attorney general of each state to thoroughly investigate reports of price gouging and prosecute those engaging in this immoral and illegal activity to the full extent of the law,” he said. The United States unexpectedly lost nearly half of its expected flu vaccine supply this month when Britain shut down a Chiron Corp. factory in Liverpool that makes the shots. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is collecting reports of suspected price gouging and forwarding information to states, Thompson said. Kansas and Florida filed suit against Meds-Stat this week, charging the Florida-based drug distributor with inflating its price for flu vaccine doses. Meds-Stat said the allegations were untrue and it would vigorously defend itself in court. Several other states, including Illinois and California, have alerted residents to watch for and report any episodes of suspected price gouging. Some hospital pharmacy directors said last week they were being offered flu vaccine at $800 or more per 10-dose vial, over ten times the original market value, a survey by the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists said. U.S. SCRAMBLING Flu vaccine takes months to make, which has left U.S. officials scrambling for doses for this season. The government is talking to several producers worldwide, Thompson told reporters. “It doesn’t look promising, but we’re looking,” he said.If companies were willing to provide doses, they would need regulatory approval to sell in the United States. Thompson would not speculate on how long that would take. The British decision to shut Chiron’s plant could mean the destruction of 48 million doses of vaccine. The United States was expecting about 100 million doses from Chiron and Aventis-Pasteur . Another 2 million will be available from MedImmune, maker of the nasal vaccine FluMist. Congress is investigating whether the U.S. Food and Drug Administration overlooked problems at the Chiron plant, and federal prosecutors and the Securities and Exchange Commission are looking into whether Chiron tried to conceal information. Thompson said he was receiving daily briefings about an FDA inspectors’ visit to the Chiron plant. He declined comment on their findings until a final report, hopefully next week. President Bush said during Wednesday’s presidential debate that his administration was working with Canada to obtain more vaccine. Bush has opposed importing drugs from Canada, citing safety fears. “If the Bush administration now believes that Canadian flu vaccines are safe enough for Americans, they owe us an explanation as to why other prescription drugs are not safe,” Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle, a Democrat, said in a statement.(Source: Reuters, Oct 2004)