[Interesting investigation by a global consortium into a WHO essential medicine that is also the number 1 drug worldwide. WB]
https://www.icij.org/investigations/cancer-calculus/merck-keytruda-cancer-drug-price/
ICIJ | 13 April
The Cancer Calculus, a yearlong investigation by ICIJ and 47 media partners in 37 countries, is based on hundreds of interviews with oncologists, cancer patients and their families, patent experts, regulators, pharmaceutical industry insiders and others, as well as exclusive pricing data and patent analyses and thousands of pages of company presentations, patent board documents, lawsuits and corporate and regulatory records. ICIJ’s media partners also unearthed public health records, meeting minutes, pricing and reimbursement data, and other documents through 1,018 public records requests in 27 countries.
The investigation explores how Merck, known as MSD outside the U.S. and Canada, employed aggressive but legal tactics to increase its Keytruda revenues and make the drug one of the bestselling ever — at the expense of some patients.
Among the project’s findings, we report:
- Merck and other cancer research businesses exploited the patent system to build a fortress around Keytruda of at least 1,212 patent applications in 53 countries, regions and territories. This stream of follow-on patents could help Merck stifle competition and maintain high prices — and billions of dollars in revenue — for 14 years after its original patents expire in 2028.
- Merck has promoted a higher dosage of Keytruda than is necessary, some leading cancer researchers say. And that dosage could cost the world an estimated $5 billion just for lung cancer patients by 2040, according to researchers at the World Health Organization.
- The drug giant has taken advantage of industry regulatory shortcuts, helped orchestrate a costly global lobbying campaign and operated with a gross lack of transparency in pricing. It has distributed tens of millions of dollars in the U.S. in consulting fees, travel costs and other Keytruda-related payments to doctors and health-care professionals.
All of these strategies produce revenue for Merck, with about 60% of its Keytruda sales in the U.S.