{"id":3143,"date":"2025-05-12T15:10:26","date_gmt":"2025-05-12T15:10:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/healthyretirementnews.com\/index.php\/2025\/05\/12\/the-price-of-remission\/"},"modified":"2025-05-12T15:10:26","modified_gmt":"2025-05-12T15:10:26","slug":"the-price-of-remission","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/healthyretirementnews.com\/index.php\/2025\/05\/12\/the-price-of-remission\/","title":{"rendered":"The price of remission"},"content":{"rendered":"<div data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/action-bar\/instances\/cmafvz48s001p27p4210vdlkg@published\" data-label-id-prefix=\"action-bar-start-of-article\" class=\"action-bar\" data-dynamic-breakpoint-placement=\"{&quot;extraLarge&quot;:{&quot;placement&quot;:&quot;.layout-article-elevate__left&quot;}}\" 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class=\"social-share_labelled-list__share-links--label\">Link<\/span>        <\/button>        <\/p>\n<div class=\"social-share_labelled-list__copied\" data-type=\"message\">                        Link Copied!        <\/div>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>    <button class=\"social-share_labelled-list__open\" data-type=\"open\" aria-label=\"open social share\" title=\"Open social share\">            <\/button>    <button class=\"social-share_labelled-list__close\" data-type=\"close\" aria-label=\"close social share\" title=\"Close social share\">            <\/button><\/div>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"action-bar__buttons\">            <button class=\"action-bar__button\" data-title=\"follow\">                                        Follow            <\/button>            <button class=\"action-bar__button\" data-title=\"share options\">                                <\/button>    <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmafvz48s001r27p4gi6p2775@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">            <em>This story was originally published on <\/em><em>ProPublica<\/em><em>, a nonprofit newsroom that investigates abuses of power. Sign up to receive <\/em><em>its biggest stories<\/em><em> as soon as they\u2019re published.<\/em>    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmafw0ied00083b6m98hxqh5z@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">            The pain jolted me awake. It was barely dawn, a misty February morning in 2023. My side felt as if I\u2019d been stabbed.    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmafw0ied00093b6mkc2azyz8@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">            I had been dealing with pain for weeks \u2014 a bothersome ache that felt like a bad runner\u2019s cramp. But now it was so intense I had to brace myself against the wall to stand up.    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmafw0ied000a3b6mzznvyfhw@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">            A few hours after arriving at the emergency room, I heard my name. A doctor asked me to follow him to a private area, where he told me a scan had uncovered something \u201cconcerning.\u201d    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmafw0ied000b3b6muirxfoef@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">            There were lesions, areas of bone destruction, on top of both of my hip bones and on my sternum. These were hallmarks of multiple myeloma. \u201cCancer,\u201d he said.    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmafw0ied000c3b6motcox0qc@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">            Multiple myeloma is a blood cancer that ravages bone, leaving distinctive holes in its wake. Subsequent scans showed \u201cinnumerable lesions\u201d from my neck to my feet as well as two broken ribs and a compression fracture in my spine. There is no cure.    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmafw0ied000d3b6ms1ynb02p@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">            I walked out of the ER in search of fresh air. I sat on a metal bench and did what many patients do. I turned to Google. The first link was a medical review stating that the average lifespan of a newly diagnosed patient was three to five years. My stomach churned.    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmafw0ied000e3b6mjbbfc2lz@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">            I soon learned that information was outdated. Most patients today live much longer, in large part due to a drug with a horrific past. It was a doctor at the hospital who first told me I would likely take a thalidomide drug as part of my treatment.    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmafw0ied000f3b6mi7gby2w0@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">            That couldn\u2019t be possible, I told him.    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmafw0ied000g3b6m3iuglddi@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">            I knew the story of thalidomide, or at least I thought I did. It represented one of the darkest chapters in the history of modern medicine, having caused thousands of severe birth defects after it was given to pregnant women in the 1950s and 1960s. The drug was banned in most of the world, and the scandal gave rise to the modern-day U.S. Food and Drug Administration.    <\/p>\n<div data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/related-content\/instances\/cmafwci5a006l3b6mgy11cei5@published\" data-component-name=\"related-content\" class=\"related-content-elevate related-content--article\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">\n<header class=\"related-content__title related-content__title-text\" data-editable=\"content.title\">Related article<\/header>\n<section class=\"related-content__body\">\n<div class=\"related-content__image image__related-content\">\n<div data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/image\/instances\/cm9j5coz2000p26p9hakr7qmd@published\" class=\"image-elevate image__hide-placeholder\" data-image-variation=\"image\" data-name=\"GettyImages-2208195457.jpg\" data-component-name=\"image\" data-observe-resizes=\"\" data-breakpoints=\"{&quot;image--eq-extra-small&quot;: 115, &quot;image--eq-small&quot;: 300, &quot;image--eq-large&quot;: 660}\" data-original-ratio=\"0.6668\" data-original-height=\"1667\" data-original-width=\"2500\" data-url=\"https:\/\/media.cnn.com\/api\/v1\/images\/stellar\/prod\/gettyimages-2208195457.jpg?c=original\" data-editable=\"settings\">      function imageLoadError(img) {    const fallbackImage = &#8216;\/media\/sites\/cnn\/cnn-fallback-image.jpg&#8217;;    img.removeAttribute(&#8216;onerror&#8217;);    img.src = fallbackImage;    let element = img.previousElementSibling;    while (element &amp;&amp; element.tagName === &#8216;SOURCE&#8217;) {      element.srcset = fallbackImage;      element = element.previousElementSibling;    }  }    <\/p>\n<div class=\"image__container \" data-image-variation=\"image\" data-breakpoints=\"{&quot;image--eq-extra-small&quot;: 115, &quot;image--eq-small&quot;: 300, &quot;image--show-credits&quot;: 525}\">           <\/div>\n<div class=\"image__metadata-container media__metadata-container\">\n<div class=\"image__metadata media__metadata\">\n<div class=\"image__caption attribution\">    <span data-editable=\"metaCaption\" class=\"inline-placeholder\">Washington, DC &#8211; April 02 : Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick listen as President Donald J Trump speaks before signing an executive orders on tariffs during a Make America Wealthy Again event in the Rose Garden at the White House on Wednesday, April 02, 2025 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Jabin Botsford\/The Washington Post via Getty Images)<\/span>  <\/div><figcaption class=\"image__credit\">Jabin Botsford\/The Washington Post\/Getty Images<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"related-content__headline\">        <span class=\"related-content__headline-text\" data-editable=\"content.headline\">Trump signs directive on lowering drug prices even as he seeks tariffs on pharmaceuticals<\/span>      <\/p>\n<\/section>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmafw0ied000h3b6mjfenpwqi@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">            It turns out the drug once relegated to a pharmaceutical graveyard had new life as a cancer fighter.    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmafw0ied000i3b6mzx2wl7tm@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">            That drug I take is called Revlimid. It is a derivative of thalidomide, a slightly tweaked version of the parent compound.    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmafw0ied000j3b6mfn5trwtk@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">            Revlimid is now one of the bestselling pharmaceutical products of all time, with total sales of more than $100 billion. It has extended tens of thousands of lives \u2014 including my own.    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmafw0ied000k3b6mwz3o31mx@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">            But Revlimid is also, I soon learned, extraordinarily expensive, costing nearly $1,000 for each daily pill. (Although, I later discovered, a capsule costs just 25 cents to make.)    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmafw0ied000l3b6mp2tvo1fq@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">            That steep tab has put the drug\u2019s lifesaving potential out of reach for some cancer patients, who have been forced into debt or simply stopped taking the drug. The price also helps fuel our ballooning insurance premiums.    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmafw0ied000m3b6m3tvw37eu@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">            For decades, I\u2019ve reported on outrageous health care costs in the U.S. and the burden they place on patients. I\u2019ve revealed the tactics used by drug companies to drive sales and keep the price of their products high.    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmafw0ied000n3b6mbdh8mkrc@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">            Even with my experience, the cost of Revlimid stood out. When I started taking the drug, I\u2019d look at the smooth, cylindrical capsule in my hand and consider the fact I was about to swallow something that costs about the same as a new iPhone. A month\u2019s supply, which arrives in an ordinary, orange-tinged plastic bottle, is the same price as a new Nissan Versa.    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmafw0ied000o3b6myn1xsynu@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">            I wanted to know how this drug came to cost so much \u2014 and why the price keeps going up. The price of Revlimid has been hiked 26 times since it launched. Some of what happened was reported at the time. But no one has pieced together the full account of what the drugmaker Celgene did, how federal regulators failed to rein it in and what the story reveals about unrestrained drug pricing in America.    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmafw0ied000p3b6mi15k7nnk@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">            What I discovered astonished even me.    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmafw0ied000q3b6mo158cyvg@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">            My journey started with an indefatigable New York City lawyer on a quest to give her dying husband a chance.    <\/p>\n<div data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/image\/instances\/cmahmkvgm000d3b6mkr7zjhm6@published\" class=\"image-elevate image__hide-placeholder\" data-image-variation=\"image\" data-name=\"03_20250505-revlimid-secondary-01mobilehi.JPG\" data-component-name=\"image\" data-observe-resizes=\"\" data-breakpoints=\"{&quot;image--eq-extra-small&quot;: 115, &quot;image--eq-small&quot;: 300, &quot;image--eq-large&quot;: 660}\" data-original-ratio=\"0.375\" data-original-height=\"1125\" data-original-width=\"3000\" data-url=\"https:\/\/media.cnn.com\/api\/v1\/images\/stellar\/prod\/03-20250505-revlimid-secondary-01mobilehi.JPG?c=original\" data-editable=\"settings\">\n<div class=\"image__container \" data-image-variation=\"image\" data-breakpoints=\"{&quot;image--eq-extra-small&quot;: 115, &quot;image--eq-small&quot;: 300, &quot;image--show-credits&quot;: 525}\">           <\/div>\n<div class=\"image__metadata-container media__metadata-container\">\n<div class=\"image__metadata media__metadata\">\n<div class=\"image__caption attribution\">    <span data-editable=\"metaCaption\" class=\"inline-placeholder\"><\/span>  <\/div><figcaption class=\"image__credit\">ProPublica<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<h3 class=\"subheader inline-placeholder subheader-elevate\" data-editable=\"text\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/subheader\/instances\/cmafw0kn6005q3b6myl073116@published\" data-component-name=\"subheader\" id=\"tiny-and-terrifying\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">        Tiny and terrifying<\/h3>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmafw0ied000r3b6m2mwa3lwg@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">            Beth Wolmer\u2019s story begins on a moon-splashed beach in the Cayman Islands in the winter of 1995. She and her husband, Ira, were holding hands as they walked in the sand, enjoying a rare break from a hectic life as parents to a 1-year-old daughter and demanding jobs as 30-something professionals in New York City.    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmafw0ied000s3b6m26y2dfgx@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">            They had met through friends and clicked from the start. On Sunday mornings, they sat together for hours, sharing sections of the newspaper and eating bagels. They planned trips to Europe and outings to the Metropolitan Museum of Art.    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmafw0ied000t3b6m1tyuo16t@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">            Ira was an interventional cardiologist who followed his father into medicine. Beth was a lawyer at the high-powered firm Skadden Arps.    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmafw0ied000u3b6md90ymt9e@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">            \u201cWe had a great life,\u201d Beth told me. \u201cI specifically remember coming home on the bus and thinking: \u2018My life is just perfect, perfect. I\u2019m not going to change a thing.\u2019\u201d    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmafw0ied000v3b6man21r0q9@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">            As they walked that night in the Caribbean, Ira felt a sharp pain in his cheekbone. The pain flared several more times during the trip, becoming so intense that it brought tears to his eyes.    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmafw0ied000w3b6m0b93ol58@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">            When he got home, Ira made an appointment to figure out what was wrong. Imaging tests revealed multiple myeloma. The prognosis was grim. The couple was told Ira had two years to live.    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmafw0ied000x3b6m7yuk7noc@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">            Specialists recommended treatments that would only provide a brief reprieve. The couple searched for someone who could offer something more. That\u2019s when they found Dr. Bart Barlogie in Little Rock, Arkansas.    <\/p>\n<div data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/related-content\/instances\/cmafwcz5d006n3b6m96tknukn@published\" data-component-name=\"related-content\" class=\"related-content-elevate related-content--article\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">\n<header class=\"related-content__title related-content__title-text\" data-editable=\"content.title\">Related article<\/header>\n<section class=\"related-content__body\">\n<div class=\"related-content__image image__related-content\">\n<div data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/image\/instances\/cm9jabl89001l26qkgvvb6nv0@published\" class=\"image-elevate image__hide-placeholder\" data-image-variation=\"image\" data-name=\"GettyImages-2209060631.jpg\" data-component-name=\"image\" data-observe-resizes=\"\" data-breakpoints=\"{&quot;image--eq-extra-small&quot;: 115, &quot;image--eq-small&quot;: 300, &quot;image--eq-large&quot;: 660}\" data-original-ratio=\"0.6666666666666666\" data-original-height=\"2000\" data-original-width=\"3000\" data-url=\"https:\/\/media.cnn.com\/api\/v1\/images\/stellar\/prod\/gettyimages-2209060631.jpg?c=original\" data-editable=\"settings\">\n<div class=\"image__container \" data-image-variation=\"image\" data-breakpoints=\"{&quot;image--eq-extra-small&quot;: 115, &quot;image--eq-small&quot;: 300, &quot;image--show-credits&quot;: 525}\">           <\/div>\n<div class=\"image__metadata-container media__metadata-container\">\n<div class=\"image__metadata media__metadata\">\n<div class=\"image__caption attribution\">    <span data-editable=\"metaCaption\" class=\"inline-placeholder\">WASHINGTON, DC &#8211; APRIL 07: U.S. President Donald Trump takes a question from a member of the media during a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the Oval Office of the White House on April 7, 2025 in Washington, DC. President Trump is meeting with Netanyahu to discuss ongoing efforts to release Israeli hostages from Gaza and newly imposed U.S. tariffs. (Photo by Kevin Dietsch\/Getty Images)<\/span>  <\/div><figcaption class=\"image__credit\">Kevin Dietsch\/Getty Images<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"related-content__headline\">        <span class=\"related-content__headline-text\" data-editable=\"content.headline\">Trump\u2019s tariffs could make it harder to get certain generic drugs<\/span>      <\/p>\n<\/section>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmafw0ied000z3b6m3ybv60qi@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">            Barlogie had been recruited to the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences from the more prestigious MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. In Texas, Barlogie had been frustrated by a medical culture that he viewed as too timid in its approach to multiple myeloma.    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmafw0ied00103b6m5j4p3w2m@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">            He remembers working on a Sunday when a newly diagnosed patient was admitted to the hospital. With few options, Barlogie decided to put the patient on a taxing, four-drug chemotherapy cocktail used for lymphoma patients. It didn\u2019t work. The patient died from a sepsis infection, a known complication of the treatment.    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmafw0ied00113b6m2ax4kszj@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">            The attending physician later admonished him, Barlogie said, saying, \u201cBart, we have to learn to treat myeloma gently.\u201d Barlogie said he thought to himself, \u201cFuck you.\u201d    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmafw0ied00123b6mkjtgb8om@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">            In Arkansas, Barlogie was in charge. He quickly developed a reputation as a practitioner willing to try anything to fight the fatal disease. Patients from around the world \u2014 including the actor Roy Scheider from the movie \u201cJaws\u201d \u2014 flocked to his clinic.    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmafw0ied00133b6m1366nv3v@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">            Beth and Ira heard Barlogie before they saw him. The cowboy boots he\u2019d taken to donning since his time in Houston clacked down the linoleum hallway floors. A short, slight man, Barlogie had a booming voice with a German accent. He wore leather jackets and round, red-framed glasses on his bald head.    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmafw0ied00143b6mg9mqr7s1@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">            When he strode into the exam room, he hugged Beth and Ira and told them they had come to the right place.    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmafw0ied00153b6mimxktwur@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">            Now retired, Barlogie recalls being struck by Beth\u2019s intensity. He said she told him \u201cyou must do something\u201d to help Ira.    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmafw0ied00163b6m0tp0gtx5@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">            I met Barlogie at his home in Little Rock. We sat in his office, which is filled with photos of the red Ducati motorcycle he used to ride to work. An old license plate with the letters \u201cMMCURED\u201d sat on a shelf, reflecting his goal to find a cure for multiple myeloma.    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmafw0ied00173b6m4ipw2zue@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">            When Beth and Ira found him, Barlogie told me, he had been having some success with a novel approach that put patients through two stem cell transplants a few months apart, which he called a tandem stem cell transplant. With a transplant, a patient is bombarded with high-dose chemotherapy to kill the cancerous plasma cells. The patient is then infused with healthy stem cells that travel to the bone marrow.    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmafw0ied00183b6md1q2ul7r@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">            The intense chemotherapy can be grueling and poses a small risk of death.    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmafw0ied00193b6mpic2c2ea@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">            Ira underwent three transplants. Each time, he relapsed. By the fall of 1997, after two years of treatment, Ira\u2019s thick black hair was gone. He was losing weight. Then he had a stroke. His kidneys failed and required dialysis. He developed pneumonia and had to be intubated.    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmafw0ied001a3b6mnrzxi8ju@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">            Beth was determined to keep him alive long enough for their toddler daughter to remember him. With a photograph of Ira smiling with their baby as motivation, she applied her lawyer\u2019s tenacity to the case. She pored over medical journals and peppered oncologists with questions about why what they were trying wasn\u2019t working or quizzing them about a promising study. When doctors told her there was nothing more they could do for her husband, she refused to accept it.    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmafw0ied001b3b6mf27j86f5@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">            \u201cShe is a tiny person, but she is terrifying,\u201d said Dr. David Siegel, part of the team that treated Ira in Arkansas. \u201cI\u2019ve never been more scared of a spouse of a patient than I was of her.\u201d He meant it as a compliment.    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmafw0ied001c3b6mqr0wepv6@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">            By late fall in 1997, Ira was dying and Beth was desperate.    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmafw0ied001d3b6mu89uwwme@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">            A researcher told her about the work of Dr. Judah Folkman, a surgeon and researcher at Boston Children\u2019s Hospital. Folkman believed the growth of cancerous tumors could be stunted by starving them of a supply of new blood vessels.    <\/p>\n<div data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/image\/instances\/cmahnuvn2000f3b6m0cjd3q0z@published\" class=\"image-elevate image__hide-placeholder\" data-image-variation=\"image\" data-name=\"04_20250505-revlimid-secondary-02mobilehi.JPG\" data-component-name=\"image\" data-observe-resizes=\"\" data-breakpoints=\"{&quot;image--eq-extra-small&quot;: 115, &quot;image--eq-small&quot;: 300, &quot;image--eq-large&quot;: 660}\" data-original-ratio=\"0.375\" data-original-height=\"1125\" data-original-width=\"3000\" data-url=\"https:\/\/media.cnn.com\/api\/v1\/images\/stellar\/prod\/04-20250505-revlimid-secondary-02mobilehi.JPG?c=original\" data-editable=\"settings\">\n<div class=\"image__container \" data-image-variation=\"image\" data-breakpoints=\"{&quot;image--eq-extra-small&quot;: 115, &quot;image--eq-small&quot;: 300, &quot;image--show-credits&quot;: 525}\">           <\/div>\n<div class=\"image__metadata-container media__metadata-container\">\n<div class=\"image__metadata media__metadata\">\n<div class=\"image__caption attribution\">    <span data-editable=\"metaCaption\" class=\"inline-placeholder\"><\/span>  <\/div><figcaption class=\"image__credit\">ProPublica<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<h3 class=\"subheader inline-placeholder subheader-elevate\" data-editable=\"text\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/subheader\/instances\/cmafw0kng005r3b6m5zt9ngqm@published\" data-component-name=\"subheader\" id=\"thank-you-god\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">        \u2018Thank you, God\u2019<\/h3>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmafw0ied001e3b6mec5rsw92@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">            Folkman was a workaholic who, when he wasn\u2019t in the operating room or the research lab, was traveling across the world to promote his novel theory of how to attack cancer. Peers had ridiculed his idea since he first proposed it in the 1970s. The prevailing belief at the time was that tumors didn\u2019t need a new blood supply to grow.    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmafw0ied001f3b6mb3uoh7ka@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">            A young researcher in his lab, an ophthalmologist named Robert D\u2019Amato, was at work on the top question Folkman had posed. Could they come up with a drug, in pill form, that blocks the growth of new blood vessels?    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmafw0ied001g3b6m7gz77gad@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">            Folkman has since died, but it wasn\u2019t difficult for me to track down D\u2019Amato. He still works at Boston Children\u2019s Hospital, where he has his own lab and holds the Judah Folkman Chair in Surgery. Now in his early 60s, D\u2019Amato has a youthful energy and speaks in a rapid, matter-of-fact clip.    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmafw0ied001h3b6ma8wkxd97@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">            D\u2019Amato told me that he had set out to find existing drugs that block blood vessel growth. He started by thinking of his own body and side effects caused by certain drugs. A drug that causes hair loss might be the result of the blood supply to hair follicles being shut off, for example. But this exercise wasn\u2019t producing any viable candidates.    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmafw0ied001i3b6movhacbi4@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">            After giving it some thought, D\u2019Amato realized he had myopically narrowed his search. What about a woman\u2019s body? There were drugs that stopped menstrual cycles. Then there were drugs that caused birth defects in pregnant women. In both of those cases, it was possible the drug was inhibiting blood vessel growth. He came up with a list of 10 drugs. At the top of the list was one with a devastating history: thalidomide.    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmafw0ied001j3b6mlivqunw9@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">            Beginning in the 1950s, pregnant women in Europe, Australia and other countries were frequently prescribed thalidomide as a treatment for morning sickness and to help them sleep. The drug was thought to be harmless and in Germany was sold over the counter. An advertisement for thalidomide in the United Kingdom claimed it could \u201cbe given with complete safety to pregnant women and nursing mothers without adverse effect on mother or child.\u201d    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmafw0ied001k3b6mhexbik7o@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">            They were wrong.    <\/p>\n<div data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/related-content\/instances\/cmafwde7u006p3b6m67674i1s@published\" data-component-name=\"related-content\" class=\"related-content-elevate related-content--article\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">\n<header class=\"related-content__title related-content__title-text\" data-editable=\"content.title\">Related article<\/header>\n<section class=\"related-content__body\">\n<div class=\"related-content__image image__related-content\">\n<div data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/image\/instances\/cm7l4pgit00nm26qi7rn271j8@published\" class=\"image-elevate image__hide-placeholder\" data-image-variation=\"image\" data-name=\"still_21402294_12943.386091127097_still.jpg\" data-component-name=\"image\" data-observe-resizes=\"\" data-breakpoints=\"{&quot;image--eq-extra-small&quot;: 115, &quot;image--eq-small&quot;: 300, &quot;image--eq-large&quot;: 660}\" data-original-ratio=\"0.5625\" data-original-height=\"900\" data-original-width=\"1600\" data-url=\"https:\/\/media.cnn.com\/api\/v1\/images\/stellar\/prod\/still-21402294-12943-386091127097-still.jpg?c=original\" data-editable=\"settings\">\n<div class=\"image__container \" data-image-variation=\"image\" data-breakpoints=\"{&quot;image--eq-extra-small&quot;: 115, &quot;image--eq-small&quot;: 300, &quot;image--show-credits&quot;: 525}\">           <\/div>\n<div class=\"image__metadata-container media__metadata-container\">\n<div class=\"image__metadata media__metadata\">\n<div class=\"image__caption attribution\">    <span data-editable=\"metaCaption\" class=\"inline-placeholder\">A scene from a video provided by Akeso shows part of their production facilities.<\/span>  <\/div><figcaption class=\"image__credit\">Courtesy Akeso<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"related-content__headline\">        <span class=\"related-content__headline-text\" data-editable=\"content.headline\">A little-known Chinese company made a drug that beat the world\u2019s biggest-selling medicine<\/span>      <\/p>\n<\/section>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmafw0ied001l3b6m244i4bld@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">            The drug was eventually linked to birth defects in more than 10,000 babies. Those babies were born without limbs or with shortened limbs, malformed hands, disfigured faces and damage to internal organs. Nearly half died within months of being born.    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmafw0ied001m3b6mt4bqdtfg@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">            By the early 1960s, the drug was widely banned, considered a shameful chapter in the history of pharmaceuticals. It was never sold in the U.S. thanks to the unwavering objections of a resolute reviewer at the FDA named Frances Oldham Kelsey. The close call, however, prompted Congress to require more rigorous safety and efficacy data from drug manufacturers and empower the FDA to monitor the industry more closely.    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmafw0ied001n3b6mfezy1w1q@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">            D\u2019Amato theorized that the thalidomide birth defects were the result of the drug stopping the growth of new blood vessels that the fetus needs to develop. He walked me through his experiments: He cracked a fertilized chicken egg on a glass petri dish and placed thalidomide on the surface. After two days, if no blood vessels grow on the embryo, a halo should appear around the thalidomide sample, showing the drug worked. It didn\u2019t.    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmafw0ied001o3b6mpke2yyqv@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">            Folkman told D\u2019Amato to move on. But D\u2019Amato couldn\u2019t shake the disappointing results. He did more research and realized thalidomide needs to first be broken down in the body to have an effect on humans. He purchased metabolites of thalidomide, repeated the test and this time found a halo around the sample.    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmafw0ied001p3b6m8ppeomfi@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">            He kept experimenting and in 1994 published a paper finding that thalidomide had \u201cclear implications\u201d for treating tumors.    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmafw0ied001q3b6m0avhwi1y@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">            So when Beth called three years later, Folkman told her they should try it.    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmafw0ied001r3b6mkty21ssl@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">            Barlogie told me he didn\u2019t think it would work. Beth said she had to convince him to try it.    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmafw0ied001s3b6m2jg0ppl7@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">            Barlogie agreed to test it on Ira and two other patients who were out of treatment options in early December.    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmafw0ied001u3b6mp5qkyvj8@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">            The drug did not work for Ira. Beth said just before he died, Ira sat up in bed, kissed her and smiled. It was March 10, 1998. He was 38.    <\/p>\n<div data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/related-content\/instances\/cmafweagu006r3b6m50mr5deb@published\" data-component-name=\"related-content\" class=\"related-content-elevate related-content--article\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">\n<header class=\"related-content__title related-content__title-text\" data-editable=\"content.title\">Related article<\/header>\n<section class=\"related-content__body\">\n<div class=\"related-content__image image__related-content\">\n<div data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/image\/instances\/cm5x0cvb2001h27nj1n93a4sc@published\" class=\"image-elevate image__hide-placeholder\" data-image-variation=\"image\" data-name=\"2024-11-25T020905Z_1580786924_RC2UBBAA6C18_RTRMADP_3_USA-DAILYLIFE.JPG\" data-component-name=\"image\" data-observe-resizes=\"\" data-breakpoints=\"{&quot;image--eq-extra-small&quot;: 115, &quot;image--eq-small&quot;: 300, &quot;image--eq-large&quot;: 660}\" data-original-ratio=\"0.6665\" data-original-height=\"1333\" data-original-width=\"2000\" data-url=\"https:\/\/media.cnn.com\/api\/v1\/images\/stellar\/prod\/2024-11-25t020905z-1580786924-rc2ubbaa6c18-rtrmadp-3-usa-dailylife.JPG?c=original\" data-editable=\"settings\">\n<div class=\"image__container \" data-image-variation=\"image\" data-breakpoints=\"{&quot;image--eq-extra-small&quot;: 115, &quot;image--eq-small&quot;: 300, &quot;image--show-credits&quot;: 525}\">           <\/div>\n<div class=\"image__metadata-container media__metadata-container\">\n<div class=\"image__metadata media__metadata\">\n<div class=\"image__caption attribution\">    <span data-editable=\"metaCaption\" class=\"inline-placeholder\">The Federal Trade Commission issued a second interim report on pharmacy benefit managers on Tuesday.<\/span>  <\/div><figcaption class=\"image__credit\">Benoit Tessier\/Reuters<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"related-content__headline\">        <span class=\"related-content__headline-text\" data-editable=\"content.headline\">FTC finds middlemen inflate specialty generic drug prices by billions of dollars<\/span>      <\/p>\n<\/section>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmafw0ied001v3b6mllo51m47@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">            After years of frantically searching for anything that would help, the finality of his death was difficult to accept, she said. \u201cI wanted him alive forever.\u201d    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmafw0ied001w3b6megpmh7p1@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">            It is unclear what happened with the second patient. The third patient, however, started to get better.    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmafw0ied001x3b6mpk1opg7i@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">            His name was Jimmy. Little more is known about him except that he was a patient of another oncologist at the hospital, Dr. Seema Singhal, and near death before he started the drug. \u201cI told him it might work, but at the very least it would help him sleep,\u201d Singhal said. Shortly after Jimmy took his first dose of thalidomide, Singhal left for a vacation.    <\/p>\n<div data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/image\/instances\/cmaho0fil00013b6mnt3e2bf4@published\" class=\"image_large-elevate portrait image_large__hide-placeholder\" data-image-variation=\"image_large\" data-name=\"05_PPUB-002-F3-thanks-v1.JPG\" data-component-name=\"image\" data-observe-resizes=\"\" data-breakpoints=\"{&quot;image_large--eq-extra-small&quot;: 115, &quot;image_large--eq-small&quot;: 300, &quot;image_large--eq-large&quot;: 660}\" data-original-ratio=\"1.5\" data-original-height=\"5088\" data-original-width=\"3392\" data-url=\"https:\/\/media.cnn.com\/api\/v1\/images\/stellar\/prod\/05-ppub-002-f3-thanks-v1.JPG?c=original\" data-editable=\"settings\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">\n<div class=\"image_large__container \" data-image-variation=\"image_large\" data-breakpoints=\"{&quot;image_large--eq-extra-small&quot;: 115, &quot;image_large--eq-small&quot;: 300, &quot;image_large--show-credits&quot;: 525}\">           <\/div>\n<div class=\"image_large__metadata-container media__metadata-container\">\n<div class=\"image_large__metadata media__metadata\">\n<div class=\"image_large__caption attribution\">    <span data-editable=\"metaCaption\" class=\"inline-placeholder\">Dr. Bart Barlogie and Dr. Seema Singhal<\/span>  <\/div><figcaption class=\"image_large__credit\">Painting by James Lee Chiahan for ProPublica<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmafw0ied001y3b6m5ngs3bof@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">            Dr. Bart Barlogie and Dr. Seema Singhal Credit:Painting by James Lee Chiahan for ProPublicaWhen she returned two weeks later, her mailbox was full of lab results for Jimmy. He was still alive. She sat down to double-check the results, which showed declining amounts of a cancer marker. \u201cFor 30 minutes, I was the only person in the world who knew this worked,\u201d she said.    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmafw0ied001z3b6mobjllk5g@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">            Singhal walked down to Barlogie\u2019s office to give him the news. \u201cHe took me by the hand, opened a window and shouted, \u2018Thank you, God,\u2019\u201d she said.    <\/p>\n<div data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/image\/instances\/cmaho2d9s00013b6mxfn7h011@published\" class=\"image-elevate image__hide-placeholder\" data-image-variation=\"image\" data-name=\"06_20250505-revlimid-secondary-03mobilehi.JPG\" data-component-name=\"image\" data-observe-resizes=\"\" data-breakpoints=\"{&quot;image--eq-extra-small&quot;: 115, &quot;image--eq-small&quot;: 300, &quot;image--eq-large&quot;: 660}\" data-original-ratio=\"0.375\" data-original-height=\"1125\" data-original-width=\"3000\" data-url=\"https:\/\/media.cnn.com\/api\/v1\/images\/stellar\/prod\/06-20250505-revlimid-secondary-03mobilehi.JPG?c=original\" data-editable=\"settings\">\n<div class=\"image__container \" data-image-variation=\"image\" data-breakpoints=\"{&quot;image--eq-extra-small&quot;: 115, &quot;image--eq-small&quot;: 300, &quot;image--show-credits&quot;: 525}\">           <\/div>\n<div class=\"image__metadata-container media__metadata-container\">\n<div class=\"image__metadata media__metadata\">\n<div class=\"image__caption attribution\">    <span data-editable=\"metaCaption\" class=\"inline-placeholder\"><\/span>  <\/div><figcaption class=\"image__credit\">ProPublica<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<h3 class=\"subheader inline-placeholder subheader-elevate\" data-editable=\"text\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/subheader\/instances\/cmafw0knu005s3b6mvxqbolin@published\" data-component-name=\"subheader\" id=\"violent-arguments\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">        \u2018Violent arguments\u2019<\/h3>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmafw0ied00203b6m5lugt5db@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">            Word of Jimmy\u2019s stunning recovery in Arkansas quickly made its way to the offices of Celgene Corp., located in a small corporate park in a rural patch of northern New Jersey.    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmafw0ied00213b6mwrstpg1p@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">            The company had just wrapped up a brutal year-end accounting, which showed losses of $27 million on revenue of just $1.1 million. Money was so tight that executives engaged in what one of them called \u201cviolent arguments\u201d over whether to charge employees for coffee.    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmafw0ied00223b6mve31x39p@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">            Celgene had acquired the rights to thalidomide patents held by researchers at Rockefeller University in 1992. The company, which was new to pharmaceuticals, planned to use the experience of obtaining FDA approval for thalidomide to develop other drugs.    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmafw0ied00233b6m45ul0sab@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">            \u201cIt wasn\u2019t meant to be a blockbuster,\u201d said Sol Barer, who started at the company in 1987 and later became CEO.    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmafw0ied00243b6m9039icpq@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">            When Celgene announced plans to develop the disgraced drug for new uses, the only analyst following the company on Wall Street dropped coverage and told Celgene officials they didn\u2019t know what they were doing.    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmafw0ied00253b6m4fbgjy8v@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">            The company thought the largest market would be as a treatment for AIDS patients experiencing dangerous weight loss. To win approval of the drug, however, Celgene selected a use that was already in practice in parts of the world for a small group of patients.    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmafw0ied00263b6mr0l79995@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">            In July 1998, the FDA approved thalidomide for the treatment of a painful complication of leprosy. It was a momentous decision, coming just a few decades after the drug caused so much harm.    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmafw0ied00273b6memtkctre@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">            The market for leprosy was tiny, but what happened with Jimmy in Arkansas changed everything for the company.    <\/p>\n<div data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/image\/instances\/cmaho31og00013b6mshodoa6k@published\" class=\"image-elevate image__hide-placeholder\" data-image-variation=\"image\" data-name=\"07_20250505-revlimid-secondary-04mobilehi.JPG\" data-component-name=\"image\" data-observe-resizes=\"\" data-breakpoints=\"{&quot;image--eq-extra-small&quot;: 115, &quot;image--eq-small&quot;: 300, &quot;image--eq-large&quot;: 660}\" data-original-ratio=\"0.375\" data-original-height=\"1125\" data-original-width=\"3000\" data-url=\"https:\/\/media.cnn.com\/api\/v1\/images\/stellar\/prod\/07-20250505-revlimid-secondary-04mobilehi.JPG?c=original\" data-editable=\"settings\">\n<div class=\"image__container \" data-image-variation=\"image\" data-breakpoints=\"{&quot;image--eq-extra-small&quot;: 115, &quot;image--eq-small&quot;: 300, &quot;image--show-credits&quot;: 525}\">           <\/div>\n<div class=\"image__metadata-container media__metadata-container\">\n<div class=\"image__metadata media__metadata\">\n<div class=\"image__caption attribution\">    <span data-editable=\"metaCaption\" class=\"inline-placeholder\"><\/span>  <\/div><figcaption class=\"image__credit\">ProPublica<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<h3 class=\"subheader inline-placeholder subheader-elevate\" data-editable=\"text\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/subheader\/instances\/cmafw0kof005t3b6ms260w4nx@published\" data-component-name=\"subheader\" id=\"blocked-exits\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">        Blocked exits<\/h3>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmafw0ied00283b6m1vxzbbyo@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">            The Arkansas doctors had been busy since first testing thalidomide on Ira Wolmer, Jimmy and the other patient. They quickly got approval to conduct a larger experiment funded by a grant from the U.S. National Institutes of Health. Now, in December 1998, they were ready to share their initial findings at the annual meeting of the American Society of Hematology.    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmafw0ied00293b6m1v4ajjif@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">            It had been three decades since a new therapy for multiple myeloma had been approved, and there was a buzz among the oncologists gathered in Miami Beach for the conference. So many doctors crowded into the room for the presentation that the fire marshal had to intervene several times to clear exit ways. Word had already spread among multiple myeloma specialists about Jimmy. Now, the assembled doctors wanted to know whether it had been a fluke or a discovery that would fundamentally change how they practiced.    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmafw0ied002a3b6mvd98zmui@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">            Singhal was tasked with presenting the data. It was a big stage for the 32-year-old doctor, who had only been practicing in the U.S. for two years.    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmafw0ied002c3b6mcqjs3r07@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">            The 89 patients in the study were high-risk cases who had undergone prior treatment. They were patients who, like Ira, had run out of options. Now, after thalidomide treatment, one-third had declines in myeloma activity.    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmafw0ied002d3b6m9axp1s3j@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">            Those were stunning numbers, unlike anything seen before in the treatment of multiple myeloma. When Singhal finished, the room erupted in applause.    <\/p>\n<div data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/related-content\/instances\/cmafweruw006t3b6masjcb8k1@published\" data-component-name=\"related-content\" class=\"related-content-elevate related-content--article\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">\n<header class=\"related-content__title related-content__title-text\" data-editable=\"content.title\">Related article<\/header>\n<section class=\"related-content__body\">\n<div class=\"related-content__image image__related-content\">\n<div data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/image\/instances\/cm1gp4swz001p1oqd9p8z2mcy@published\" class=\"image-elevate image__hide-placeholder\" data-image-variation=\"image\" data-name=\"DSC_4493.jpg\" data-component-name=\"image\" data-observe-resizes=\"\" data-breakpoints=\"{&quot;image--eq-extra-small&quot;: 115, &quot;image--eq-small&quot;: 300, &quot;image--eq-large&quot;: 660}\" data-original-ratio=\"0.6666666666666666\" data-original-height=\"1600\" data-original-width=\"2400\" data-url=\"https:\/\/media.cnn.com\/api\/v1\/images\/stellar\/prod\/dsc-4493-20240821055706132.jpg?c=original\" data-editable=\"settings\">\n<div class=\"image__container \" data-image-variation=\"image\" data-breakpoints=\"{&quot;image--eq-extra-small&quot;: 115, &quot;image--eq-small&quot;: 300, &quot;image--show-credits&quot;: 525}\">           <\/div>\n<div class=\"image__metadata-container media__metadata-container\">\n<div class=\"image__metadata media__metadata\">\n<div class=\"image__caption attribution\">    <span data-editable=\"metaCaption\" class=\"inline-placeholder\">Sen. Bernie Sanders, pictured at the 2024 Democratic National Convention in Chicago, hammered the CEO of drugmaker Novo Nordisk on Tuesday in a hearing on the price of its medicines.<\/span>  <\/div><figcaption class=\"image__credit\">Bernadette Tuazon\/CNN\/File<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"related-content__headline\">        <span class=\"related-content__headline-text\" data-editable=\"content.headline\">\u2018Greed, greed, greed\u2019: Sanders demands Ozempic maker lower prices<\/span>      <\/p>\n<\/section>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmafw0ied002e3b6m0gsalnxr@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">            \u201cIt completely changed the treatment landscape,\u201d she said.    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmafw0ied002f3b6mgn81mpln@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">            I wasn\u2019t able to track down Jimmy, but I have a sense of how he might have felt when he realized the treatment was working.    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmafw0ied002g3b6m2uz9n0m7@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">            After my initial emergency room visit, it took time to confirm my diagnosis and do some additional testing. While I waited, the pain worsened. Painkillers barely made a dent. All I could picture was this cancer eating away at my bones, doing more damage every day.    <\/p>\n<div data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/image\/instances\/cmaho4ugm00033b6m4hyakkjw@published\" class=\"image_large-elevate portrait image_large__hide-placeholder\" data-image-variation=\"image_large\" data-name=\"08_PPUB-002-F1_diagnosis-v1.JPG\" data-component-name=\"image\" data-observe-resizes=\"\" data-breakpoints=\"{&quot;image_large--eq-extra-small&quot;: 115, &quot;image_large--eq-small&quot;: 300, &quot;image_large--eq-large&quot;: 660}\" data-original-ratio=\"1.4998422215209846\" data-original-height=\"4753\" data-original-width=\"3169\" data-url=\"https:\/\/media.cnn.com\/api\/v1\/images\/stellar\/prod\/08-ppub-002-f1-diagnosis-v1.JPG?c=original\" data-editable=\"settings\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">\n<div class=\"image_large__container \" data-image-variation=\"image_large\" data-breakpoints=\"{&quot;image_large--eq-extra-small&quot;: 115, &quot;image_large--eq-small&quot;: 300, &quot;image_large--show-credits&quot;: 525}\">           <\/div>\n<div class=\"image_large__metadata-container media__metadata-container\">\n<div class=\"image_large__metadata media__metadata\">\n<div class=\"image_large__caption attribution\">    <span data-editable=\"metaCaption\" class=\"inline-placeholder\">David Armstrong<\/span>  <\/div><figcaption class=\"image_large__credit\">Painting by James Lee Chiahan for ProPublica<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmafw0ied002h3b6mh9anwxf4@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">            David Armstrong Credit:Painting by James Lee Chiahan for ProPublicaSome patients wait months for care. I was lucky enough to meet my oncologist within weeks. He had a script for Revlimid ready to go, part of a regimen of four drugs I would take as standard induction therapy, and I was able to start it within days.    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmafw0ied002i3b6m1raqvmq6@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">            The initial dose of Revlimid cost $18,255 for a month\u2019s supply, and my insurance covered the cost.    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmafw0ied002j3b6m9vhiueky@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">            Within a month, my blood tests showed a massive drop in a key cancer indicator.    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmafw0ied002k3b6mvzai9x41@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">            My pain gradually subsided too. By the end of April, I wrote in my journal that the pain was a 3 or 4 instead of the usual 9 or 10. \u201cIt doesn\u2019t hurt to get out of bed anymore,\u201d I wrote.    <\/p>\n<div data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/image\/instances\/cmaho8fcl00053b6mncinu366@published\" class=\"image-elevate image__hide-placeholder\" data-image-variation=\"image\" data-name=\"09_20250505-revlimid-secondary-05mobilehi.JPG\" data-component-name=\"image\" data-observe-resizes=\"\" data-breakpoints=\"{&quot;image--eq-extra-small&quot;: 115, &quot;image--eq-small&quot;: 300, &quot;image--eq-large&quot;: 660}\" data-original-ratio=\"0.375\" data-original-height=\"1125\" data-original-width=\"3000\" data-url=\"https:\/\/media.cnn.com\/api\/v1\/images\/stellar\/prod\/09-20250505-revlimid-secondary-05mobilehi.JPG?c=original\" data-editable=\"settings\">\n<div class=\"image__container \" data-image-variation=\"image\" data-breakpoints=\"{&quot;image--eq-extra-small&quot;: 115, &quot;image--eq-small&quot;: 300, &quot;image--show-credits&quot;: 525}\">           <\/div>\n<div class=\"image__metadata-container media__metadata-container\">\n<div class=\"image__metadata media__metadata\">\n<div class=\"image__caption attribution\">    <span data-editable=\"metaCaption\" class=\"inline-placeholder\"><\/span>  <\/div><figcaption class=\"image__credit\">ProPublica<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<h3 class=\"subheader inline-placeholder subheader-elevate\" data-editable=\"text\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/subheader\/instances\/cmafw0kp6005u3b6mkoalzy5l@published\" data-component-name=\"subheader\" id=\"a-piggy-bank\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">        A piggy bank<\/h3>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmafw0ied002l3b6me3osociy@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">            The discovery in Arkansas made thalidomide, which Celgene sold as Thalomid, an instant hit.    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmafw0ied002m3b6m8bs9p25b@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">            As a result, Celgene\u2019s revenue increased nearly sevenfold to $26.2 million in the year after the Miami presentation. It sold its thalidomide pills for $7.50 each.    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmafw0ied002n3b6mp1xqgzfd@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">            From those modest beginnings, Celgene took a slightly altered version of that pill and turned it into one of the bestselling and most expensive prescription drugs in history. Celgene\u2019s success with Thalomid was the result of remarkable good fortune, a case where the heavy lifting of discovery and initial testing had already been done, by Beth Wolmer, D\u2019Amato, Barlogie, Singhal and others.    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmafw0ied002o3b6map0enkgc@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">            The development of the drug that would become Revlimid took me deep into the confounding, sharp-elbowed world of drug patents, which ostensibly protect drugmakers, allowing them to recoup the massive investments they made in developing a new product. Celgene drew on patent law, a drug safety system and even patient assistance programs to guard the exclusivity of its prized drug and the massive revenue it generated.    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmafw0ied002p3b6mism7hz5v@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">            Those tactics, detailed in reams of court filings, allowed Celgene to treat Revlimid like a piggy bank, tapping it whenever it wanted.    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmafw0ied002r3b6mvr4rh559@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">            Amid the early success of Thalomid, Celgene identified two potential threats: One was obvious. Thalidomide caused birth defects, a looming risk that could result in it being pulled from the market.    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmafw0ied002s3b6mwid5yzzc@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">            The other was that Celgene held limited patents on the drug. Patents are exclusive legal rights to inventions, and researchers file them on nearly every aspect of drug development as soon as they can, locking up everything from specific sets of ingredients to the way the drug is used and administered. The more robust patents a company has, the longer it can potentially ward off competitors.    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmafw0ied002t3b6mjfi3y1wm@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">            Thalidomide was an old drug and Celgene\u2019s patents did not cover the active ingredient, leaving it open to competition. The patents it did have, covering items such as the optimal dosages and its use in treating particular diseases, were considered weaker and open to a court challenge. If Celgene could create a new version of thalidomide \u2014 ideally one that didn\u2019t cause birth defects \u2014 the company could seek more and stronger patents that would extend beyond those of the original drug.    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmafw0ied002u3b6mb6w9fxb3@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">            So researchers at Celgene tested analogs of thalidomide, which are drugs that have a similar effect but are different from the parent compound in minor ways, such as having one less oxygen atom. The analogs are also more potent than the original, meaning they can achieve a similar effect at lower doses.    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmafw0ied002v3b6m9khkvgv5@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">            Celgene was not alone in its efforts. D\u2019Amato was also studying thalidomide analogs and filing patents on their use, which he and Boston Children\u2019s Hospital licensed to a Celgene competitor, EntreMed Inc.    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmafw0ied002w3b6mcwkhe5c5@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">            With dueling patents, the companies sued each other in 2002.    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmafw0ied002x3b6mqbvllmnj@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">            Celgene was newly flush with cash from rising sales of thalidomide. EntreMed, on the other hand, was burning through money as it focused most of its resources on developing other drugs discovered in Folkman\u2019s lab.    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmafw0ied002y3b6mtgobbcw0@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">            In December of 2002, the companies settled.    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmafw0ied002z3b6mtfpbo4lq@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">            Celgene agreed to pay Boston Children\u2019s Hospital royalties from future sales of Revlimid. In exchange, the hospital and D\u2019Amato licensed their patents of thalidomide analogs to Celgene. Celgene also agreed to pay EntreMed $27 million.    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmafw0ied00303b6mn1lwdpz9@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">            For Celgene, the fight with EntreMed was a valuable experience. It learned that competition can be neutralized.    <\/p>\n<div data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/image\/instances\/cmahoa04k00073b6m5bh9xsu6@published\" class=\"image-elevate image__hide-placeholder\" data-image-variation=\"image\" data-name=\"10_20250505-revlimid-secondary-06mobilehi.JPG\" data-component-name=\"image\" data-observe-resizes=\"\" data-breakpoints=\"{&quot;image--eq-extra-small&quot;: 115, &quot;image--eq-small&quot;: 300, &quot;image--eq-large&quot;: 660}\" data-original-ratio=\"0.375\" data-original-height=\"1125\" data-original-width=\"3000\" data-url=\"https:\/\/media.cnn.com\/api\/v1\/images\/stellar\/prod\/10-20250505-revlimid-secondary-06mobilehi.JPG?c=original\" data-editable=\"settings\">\n<div class=\"image__container \" data-image-variation=\"image\" data-breakpoints=\"{&quot;image--eq-extra-small&quot;: 115, &quot;image--eq-small&quot;: 300, &quot;image--show-credits&quot;: 525}\">           <\/div>\n<div class=\"image__metadata-container media__metadata-container\">\n<div class=\"image__metadata media__metadata\">\n<div class=\"image__caption attribution\">    <span data-editable=\"metaCaption\" class=\"inline-placeholder\"><\/span>  <\/div><figcaption class=\"image__credit\">ProPublica<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<h3 class=\"subheader inline-placeholder subheader-elevate\" data-editable=\"text\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/subheader\/instances\/cmafw0kpz005v3b6maruyv890@published\" data-component-name=\"subheader\" id=\"the-rise-of-revlimid\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">        The rise of Revlimid<\/h3>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmafw0ied00313b6mylv1ykdc@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">            Celgene had kept the price of Thalomid low when it was initially intended for AIDS patients, CEO John Jackson told investors in 2004, as the company \u201cdidn\u2019t want huge numbers of people demonstrating in front\u201d of its office.    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmafw0ied00323b6m22wxd5j2@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">            That wasn\u2019t a problem with cancer patients. There was \u201cplenty of room for very substantial increases\u201d in the price of the drug now, Jackson told investors.    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmafw0ied00343b6m12rrq6nk@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">            Just two days earlier, Celgene had hiked the price of Thalomid to $47 a pill.    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmafw0ied00353b6m00qnoa9c@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">            \u201cThere was a common internal theme at Celgene that cancer patients were willing to pay almost any amount Celgene charged,\u201d wrote David Schmidt, a former national account manager at the company, in a whistleblower lawsuit he filed after his employment was terminated in 2008. The lawsuit was voluntarily dismissed by Schmidt. (Jackson didn\u2019t respond to requests for comment; Schmidt declined to talk to me.)    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmafw0ied00363b6mhql7u030@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">            When Celgene launched Revlimid in December of 2005, it set the initial price at $55,000 a year, or $218 a pill, which was about double what analysts expected.    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmafw0ied00373b6mrrpnxg6a@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">            Seven months later, when the FDA approved the drug for multiple myeloma, the price jumped to $70,560 a year, or $280 a pill.    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmafw0ied003a3b6m8cq743ec@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">            The cost to manufacture each Revlimid pill, meanwhile, was 25 cents. I found a deposition marked \u201chighly confidential\u201d in which a top Celgene executive testified that the cost started at a quarter and never changed.    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmafw0ied003b3b6mcq7v3olf@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">            Even on Wall Street, which cheered higher pricing, the initial cost of Revlimid prompted concern among analysts who tracked the company that such aggressive maneuvering would cause insurers to push back. In the U.S., that is one of the only real checks on the price of prescription drugs.    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmafw0ied003c3b6mqtk8k30q@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">            That fear turned out to be unfounded, and Celgene would repeatedly test the bounds of how high it could go.    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmafw0ied003d3b6mxvuxjjmk@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">            At the same time, Celgene worked to mute any criticism of Revlimid.    <\/p>\n<div data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/related-content\/instances\/cmafwfgfy006v3b6muqvs1qas@published\" data-component-name=\"related-content\" class=\"related-content-elevate related-content--article\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">\n<header class=\"related-content__title related-content__title-text\" data-editable=\"content.title\">Related article<\/header>\n<section class=\"related-content__body\">\n<div class=\"related-content__image image__related-content\">\n<div data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/image\/instances\/cm9a7oueh00pk2cntb3rk7y5x@published\" class=\"image-elevate image__hide-placeholder\" data-image-variation=\"image\" data-name=\"GettyImages-2209261529.jpg\" data-component-name=\"image\" data-observe-resizes=\"\" data-breakpoints=\"{&quot;image--eq-extra-small&quot;: 115, &quot;image--eq-small&quot;: 300, &quot;image--eq-large&quot;: 660}\" data-original-ratio=\"0.6666666666666666\" data-original-height=\"2000\" data-original-width=\"3000\" data-url=\"https:\/\/media.cnn.com\/api\/v1\/images\/stellar\/prod\/gettyimages-2209261529.jpg?c=original\" data-editable=\"settings\">\n<div class=\"image__container \" data-image-variation=\"image\" data-breakpoints=\"{&quot;image--eq-extra-small&quot;: 115, &quot;image--eq-small&quot;: 300, &quot;image--show-credits&quot;: 525}\">           <\/div>\n<div class=\"image__metadata-container media__metadata-container\">\n<div class=\"image__metadata media__metadata\">\n<div class=\"image__caption attribution\">    <span data-editable=\"metaCaption\" class=\"inline-placeholder\">WASHINGTON, DC &#8211; APRIL 08: U.S. President Donald Trump arrives to speak at the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) dinner at the National Building Museum on April 08, 2025 in Washington, DC. Trump spoke on a range of topics, including recent House special elections, changes his administration has made and the future of the Republican party.  (Photo by Anna Moneymaker\/Getty Images)<\/span>  <\/div><figcaption class=\"image__credit\">Anna Moneymaker\/Getty Images<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"related-content__headline\">        <span class=\"related-content__headline-text\" data-editable=\"content.headline\">Trump drug tariffs would drive up prices, worsen shortages before any boost to US manufacturing, experts warn<\/span>      <\/p>\n<\/section>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmafw0ied003e3b6mvtaoatkd@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">            In 2005, Celgene received reports that Los Angeles oncologist Dr. James Berenson was \u201cbashing\u201d Revlimid in presentations sponsored by patient groups.    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmafw0ied003f3b6mz1hrzkvq@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">            In one email, a senior company official said, \u201cit is time for us to take Jimbo to the wood shed.\u201d The company discussed a range of options for dealing with the doctor, from taking legal action to arranging a sit-down with Celgene\u2019s chief executive.    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmafw0ied003g3b6m55tztuun@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">            Ultimately, the company appears to have decided on a friendlier course of action. Berenson became a frequent paid speaker and consultant for the company, with payments totaling at least $333,000, according to Celgene disclosures. Berenson declined to comment.    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmafw0ied003h3b6mors3tvk7@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">            He wasn\u2019t the only doctor the company befriended. Payment records show that between 2013 and 2018, Celgene paid doctors $11 million for speaking engagements and consulting work related to Revlimid. At one point, Celgene rented a suite at the Houston Astros baseball stadium to throw a party for the entire multiple myeloma department at the MD Anderson Cancer Center, according to court testimony. The center said it was unable to verify any of those details.    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmafw0ied003j3b6mc1g0aj8c@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">            Celgene went on to spread its largesse across the multiple myeloma world. It funded patient groups, sponsored medical meetings and contracted with prestigious academic medical centers.    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmafw0ied003k3b6mp0gqtcub@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">            \u201cThey remind me of an octopus with many, many tentacles, and at the end of each tentacle is a wad of cash,\u201d said David Mitchell, a former Washington, D.C., communications executive who launched a nonprofit organization to fight for lower prices after he was diagnosed with multiple myeloma. \u201cEverybody relies on the money.\u201d Mitchell said his group, Patients For Affordable Drugs, does not accept donations from any entity that profits from the development or distribution of pharmaceuticals.    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmafw0ied003l3b6mfxn2aqii@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">            At the same time it showered doctors and patient groups with money, Celgene was shutting Beth Wolmer out. She told me that John Jackson, the CEO at the time, had promised her a paid board seat at the company as a way of compensating her for her role in the discovery before the company cut off communication.    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmafw0ied003m3b6mesui0pik@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">            Wolmer sued Celgene in federal court in 2009, seeking $300 million or more for alleged misappropriation of her idea and what she termed the \u201cunjust enrichment\u201d of Celgene.    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmafw0ied003n3b6mecqbf827@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">            Celgene said it never promised to compensate Wolmer. The company also suggested she greatly inflated her role in the discovery and, in any event, waited too long to take legal action.    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmafw0ied003o3b6mwlksrltd@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">            In 2010, a judge granted Celgene\u2019s motion for summary judgment in the case, agreeing that the statute of limitations had expired while at the same time expressing \u201cadmiration\u201d for Wolmer\u2019s \u201ccontribution to the struggle against this terrible disease.\u201d    <\/p>\n<div data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/image\/instances\/cmahodm3w00093b6m4w2ugnkb@published\" class=\"image_large-elevate portrait image_large__hide-placeholder\" data-image-variation=\"image_large\" data-name=\"11_PPUB-002-F2_moonlight-v1.JPG\" data-component-name=\"image\" data-observe-resizes=\"\" data-breakpoints=\"{&quot;image_large--eq-extra-small&quot;: 115, &quot;image_large--eq-small&quot;: 300, &quot;image_large--eq-large&quot;: 660}\" data-original-ratio=\"1.499852114758947\" data-original-height=\"5071\" data-original-width=\"3381\" data-url=\"https:\/\/media.cnn.com\/api\/v1\/images\/stellar\/prod\/11-ppub-002-f2-moonlight-v1.JPG?c=original\" data-editable=\"settings\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">\n<div class=\"image_large__container \" data-image-variation=\"image_large\" data-breakpoints=\"{&quot;image_large--eq-extra-small&quot;: 115, &quot;image_large--eq-small&quot;: 300, &quot;image_large--show-credits&quot;: 525}\">           <\/div>\n<div class=\"image_large__metadata-container media__metadata-container\">\n<div class=\"image_large__metadata media__metadata\">\n<div class=\"image_large__caption attribution\">    <span data-editable=\"metaCaption\" class=\"inline-placeholder\">Ira and Beth Wolmer in the Cayman Islands<\/span>  <\/div><figcaption class=\"image_large__credit\">Painting by James Lee Chiahan for ProPublica<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmafw0ied003p3b6ml79ffj55@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">            Ira and Beth Wolmer in the Cayman Islands Credit:Painting by James Lee Chiahan for ProPublicaWolmer has remarried and changed her name to Jacobson. She remains disappointed about the way she was treated by Celgene. \u201cThere was no ambiguity about who found the purpose of this drug, and I\u2019m thrilled that it\u2019s helping so many people,\u201d she said. \u201cWhy they treated me that way? I don\u2019t know.\u201d    <\/p>\n<div data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/image\/instances\/cmahofqgc000b3b6mk89lvodb@published\" class=\"image-elevate image__hide-placeholder\" data-image-variation=\"image\" data-name=\"12_20250505-revlimid-secondary-07mobilehi.JPG\" data-component-name=\"image\" data-observe-resizes=\"\" data-breakpoints=\"{&quot;image--eq-extra-small&quot;: 115, &quot;image--eq-small&quot;: 300, &quot;image--eq-large&quot;: 660}\" data-original-ratio=\"0.375\" data-original-height=\"1125\" data-original-width=\"3000\" data-url=\"https:\/\/media.cnn.com\/api\/v1\/images\/stellar\/prod\/12-20250505-revlimid-secondary-07mobilehi.JPG?c=original\" data-editable=\"settings\">\n<div class=\"image__container \" data-image-variation=\"image\" data-breakpoints=\"{&quot;image--eq-extra-small&quot;: 115, &quot;image--eq-small&quot;: 300, &quot;image--show-credits&quot;: 525}\">           <\/div>\n<div class=\"image__metadata-container media__metadata-container\">\n<div class=\"image__metadata media__metadata\">\n<div class=\"image__caption attribution\">    <span data-editable=\"metaCaption\" class=\"inline-placeholder\"><\/span>  <\/div><figcaption class=\"image__credit\">ProPublica<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<h3 class=\"subheader inline-placeholder subheader-elevate\" data-editable=\"text\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/subheader\/instances\/cmafw0kqw005w3b6mb675f53e@published\" data-component-name=\"subheader\" id=\"the-generic-threat\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">        The generic threat<\/h3>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmafw0ied003q3b6mekfkuwov@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">            After the FDA approved Revlimid in late 2005, it also granted Celgene something else: seven years of market exclusivity because the drug treats a rare disease. In those seven years, Celgene raised the price of the drug nine times, increasing the price per pill by 82% to $397 in 2012.    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmafw0ied003r3b6m5j1vyex8@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">            The company also fended off challengers by claiming its patents protected the drug from competition until 2027.    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmafw0ied003s3b6m9kuvgq6z@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">            But by 2010 generic makers were already working on copies of the drug, preparing to challenge those patents and enter the market earlier. A government analysis has found that generics generally lower the price of brand name drugs by an average of 85% after just one year.    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmafw0ied003t3b6m00sf9nf9@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">            Celgene was well aware of the danger generics posed and warned in a 2012 financial filing that their entry into the market could have a \u201cmaterial adverse effect\u201d on its finances. At that point, Revlimid sales made up 70% of the company\u2019s revenue.    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmafw0ied003u3b6mbzqtljh9@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">            Celgene needed another move.    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmafw0ied003v3b6mpjyvyk13@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">            The drug still posed a risk of birth defects like the parent compound. In approving the drug, the FDA had mandated a strict safety program to control its prescription and distribution.    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmafw0ied003w3b6m33ox2665@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">            Celgene realized early on that this could also be a tool to thwart competition. An internal company presentation at the time noted that the safety program could make it \u201cmore difficult for generic companies to access\u201d thalidomide for testing.    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmafw0ied003x3b6m0ukg7mp3@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">            Generic drug makers are required by the FDA to test their version against the brand name drug, so they need to buy small amounts of Revlimid from the company.    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmafw0ied003y3b6mkc2o3tpd@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">            By 2012, at least six generic makers had requested to purchase Revlimid for testing. In every case, Celgene refused.    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmafw0ied003z3b6mn9wl5y1s@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">            Federal regulators took notice. The FDA had warned Celgene that it could not use the safety program \u201cto block or delay approval\u201d of generic competitors. Now, it appeared to be doing just that.    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmafw0ied00403b6m30o2po0l@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">            The Federal Trade Commission, which enforces antitrust laws, had been investigating Celgene for years and in June of 2012 notified the company it was poised to take action.    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmafw0ied00413b6mh8lzufax@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">            In a previously unreported letter, the FTC said that its staff had recommended filing a legal complaint against the company for refusing to sell to competitors, thereby keeping them out of the marketplace.    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmafw0ied00433b6m7npwx7ia@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">            In its letter, the FTC noted that while Celgene refused to sell its drugs to potential competitors, it routinely provided Revlimid to other third parties around the world, including researchers and universities studying the drug.    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmafw0ied00443b6mtkcls0fh@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">            Then, in August of 2012, the FDA directed Celgene to sell a small amount of Revlimid to a generic competitor.    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmafw0ied00453b6mw564ymue@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">            With both federal agencies bearing down on Celgene, a closed-door meeting was held at FDA headquarters at the end of August. The FTC sent five lawyers, and 11 FDA staffers attended. Celgene showed up with a large contingent that included in-house lawyers and outside counsel.    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmafw0ied00463b6mmgdegufr@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">            Celgene started by denying it was using the safety program to block generics, according to minutes of the meeting. (The minutes were filed in a court case against Celgene, and it is unclear if they were prepared by the agencies or the company.) Citing the threat of birth defects, the company said that it had legitimate safety concerns about selling Revlimid to generic companies and that it needed to protect its investment in the drug.    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmafw0ied00473b6mowkommdh@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">            Jane Axelrad, an associate director for the FDA, told Celgene that it was raising safety concerns because \u201cthe company does not want generics on the market,\u201d according to the minutes. She declined to comment.    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmafw0ied00483b6mc1y76noj@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">            The meeting ended without a resolution. The FDA had no way of enforcing its directive to Celgene. The FTC staff, however, was still determined to act. The agency had spent more than two years investigating Celgene. It hired experts, deposed Celgene officials and obtained internal company documents.    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmafw0ied00493b6mmepett46@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">            The staff drafted a complaint alleging the company engaged in unfair actions to maintain a monopoly, hoping either that it would push the company to agree to sell to competitors to avoid legal action or that Celgene would be forced to do so by the courts, according to a person familiar with the agency\u2019s stance.    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmafw0ied004a3b6m3fb2p959@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">            \u201cThe commission\u2019s patience is wearing thin,\u201d FTC official Richard Feinstein wrote to the company\u2019s lawyer in February 2013. \u201cWe have reached a point where the staff may be instructed in the very near future to commence litigation.\u201d (Feinstein did not respond to emails seeking a comment.)    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmafw0ied004b3b6mc6fqmypb@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">            Celgene appeared to relent, telling the FTC that it would sell to generic makers, as long as the FDA approved their safety plan. In July, the FDA approved the safety protocols of generic maker Mylan.    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmafw0ied004c3b6mxmuf90zg@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">            Still, Celgene refused to sell.    <\/p>\n<div data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/related-content\/instances\/cmafwfy2g006x3b6mdtjdyaxi@published\" data-component-name=\"related-content\" class=\"related-content-elevate related-content--article\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">\n<header class=\"related-content__title related-content__title-text\" data-editable=\"content.title\">Related article<\/header>\n<section class=\"related-content__body\">\n<div class=\"related-content__image image__related-content\">\n<div data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/image\/instances\/cltyjlq2c000ehpp37qne3d39@published\" class=\"image-elevate image__hide-placeholder\" data-image-variation=\"image\" data-name=\"2023-08-15-K-and-L.jpg\" data-component-name=\"image\" data-observe-resizes=\"\" data-breakpoints=\"{&quot;image--eq-extra-small&quot;: 115, &quot;image--eq-small&quot;: 300, &quot;image--eq-large&quot;: 660}\" data-original-ratio=\"0.89125\" data-original-height=\"1426\" data-original-width=\"1600\" data-url=\"https:\/\/media.cnn.com\/api\/v1\/images\/stellar\/prod\/2023-08-15-k-and-l.jpg?c=original\" data-editable=\"settings\">\n<div class=\"image__container \" data-image-variation=\"image\" data-breakpoints=\"{&quot;image--eq-extra-small&quot;: 115, &quot;image--eq-small&quot;: 300, &quot;image--show-credits&quot;: 525}\">           <\/div>\n<div class=\"image__metadata-container media__metadata-container\">\n<div class=\"image__metadata media__metadata\">\n<div class=\"image__caption attribution\">    <span data-editable=\"metaCaption\" class=\"inline-placeholder\">Olivia and Keira Riley, two sisters that share the same genetic condition.<\/span>  <\/div><figcaption class=\"image__credit\">Courtesy Kendra Riley<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"related-content__headline\">        <span class=\"related-content__headline-text\" data-editable=\"content.headline\">A lifesaving therapy for children with a rare disease is now the world\u2019s most expensive drug, raising questions about access<\/span>      <\/p>\n<\/section>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmafw0ied004d3b6mrg9wgi2i@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">            Jon Leibowitz, who was the chairman of the FTC at the time, told me that Celgene\u2019s promise to cooperate, even if it didn\u2019t result in any sales to generic makers, lessened interest in the case among his fellow commissioners. Three of five commissioners need to vote in favor of commencing litigation. Now, in retrospect, he said that \u201cif we knew then what we know now\u201d about the delays, \u201cwe certainly would have brought a case.\u201d    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmafw0ied004e3b6m2mpedczf@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">            The agency would close its case in 2017 without taking any action.    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmafw0ied004f3b6m86ctgfl6@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">            With would-be generic competitors sidelined by Celgene\u2019s refusal to sell drugs for testing, the company continued to raise the price of Revlimid.    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmafw0ied004h3b6mxjv0fwo6@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">            On a Saturday morning in early March of 2014, Celgene President Mark Alles sent an internal email complaining of disappointing first quarter Revlimid sales. Revenue from the star drug, which had surpassed $1 billion the previous quarter, was down by about 1% \u2014 or $11.4 million.    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmafw0ied004i3b6muyyzv3m0@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">            \u201cI have to consider every legitimate opportunity available to us to improve our Q1 performance,\u201d he wrote. But the only idea he proposed was a familiar one: raise the price of the drug.    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmafw0ied004j3b6mza0umcy7@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">            Alles said he wanted a meeting the following Monday to discuss an immediate 4% price increase, followed by another increase of 3% at the beginning of September.    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmafw0ied004k3b6mk1nduyx7@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">            The company implemented those hikes, along with a third in December. It brought the price of Revlimid to $9,854 a month, or $469 a pill, and helped boost Revlimid sales for the year to $5 billion. Alles didn\u2019t respond to my requests for comment.    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmafw0ied004l3b6mmqje8l94@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">            \u201cThey could raise their price any time they wanted to,\u201d said Francis Brown, a former sales executive at the company, in a 2015 deposition. I wasn\u2019t able to reach Brown for comment.    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmafw0ied004m3b6mvt1uvxl7@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">            Celgene found a solution to the generic threat when it struck a deal to settle a lawsuit brought by generic maker NATCO Pharma in 2015. NATCO could bring a generic to market, Celgene agreed, but not for seven more years \u2014 in March 2022. Even then, the generic would be limited to less than 10% of the total market for Revlimid in the first year, with gradual increases after that.    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmafw0ied004n3b6mxzhqpi0d@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">            The deal set the bar for deals with other rivals for limited generic sales, and it ensured that unlimited generic competition \u2014 and lower prices \u2014 would not arrive until 2026.    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmafw0ied004o3b6mrccv9jo7@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">            The delayed entry of generics may have been bad news for patients and health care payors, but there was one constituency that was thrilled with the 2015 deal. Celgene\u2019s stock jumped nearly 10% the day after it was announced.    <\/p>\n<div data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/image\/instances\/cmahoht0a000d3b6mb40j7mxy@published\" class=\"image-elevate image__hide-placeholder\" data-image-variation=\"image\" data-name=\"13_20250505-revlimid-secondary-08mobilehi.JPG\" data-component-name=\"image\" data-observe-resizes=\"\" data-breakpoints=\"{&quot;image--eq-extra-small&quot;: 115, &quot;image--eq-small&quot;: 300, &quot;image--eq-large&quot;: 660}\" data-original-ratio=\"0.375\" data-original-height=\"1125\" data-original-width=\"3000\" data-url=\"https:\/\/media.cnn.com\/api\/v1\/images\/stellar\/prod\/13-20250505-revlimid-secondary-08mobilehi.JPG?c=original\" data-editable=\"settings\">\n<div class=\"image__container \" data-image-variation=\"image\" data-breakpoints=\"{&quot;image--eq-extra-small&quot;: 115, &quot;image--eq-small&quot;: 300, &quot;image--show-credits&quot;: 525}\">           <\/div>\n<div class=\"image__metadata-container media__metadata-container\">\n<div class=\"image__metadata media__metadata\">\n<div class=\"image__caption attribution\">    <span data-editable=\"metaCaption\" class=\"inline-placeholder\"><\/span>  <\/div><figcaption class=\"image__credit\">ProPublica<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<h3 class=\"subheader inline-placeholder subheader-elevate\" data-editable=\"text\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/subheader\/instances\/cmafw0krx005x3b6m6rnxe8sa@published\" data-component-name=\"subheader\" id=\"ridiculous-ugly-and-killer\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">        \u2018Ridiculous,\u2019 \u2018Ugly\u2019 and \u2018Killer\u2019<\/h3>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmafw0ied004p3b6mlsur9s33@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">            Revlimid turned out to be a unicorn for Celgene, a drug whose financial success proved impossible to replicate.    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmafw0ied004q3b6m75c2hihu@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">            In October of 2017, Celgene announced it was abandoning a once-promising effort to develop a drug for Crohn\u2019s disease. Shares of Celgene declined by 11%.    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmafw0ied004r3b6mjdji02gb@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">            As it had done so many times in the past, Celgene tapped Revlimid to try to mitigate the damage. The day it announced the failure of the Crohn\u2019s drug, it quietly raised the price of Revlimid by 9%.    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmafw0ied004s3b6maxddywpe@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">            By the end of the year, Celgene had cumulatively raised the cost 20% to $662 a pill, the largest one-year increase in the drug\u2019s history.    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmafw0ied004t3b6m4a4lcj69@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">            That made Revlimid the most expensive Medicare drug that year, with the government insurance program spending $3.3 billion to provide it to 37,459 patients.    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmafw0ied004u3b6m14trhwvy@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">            At Celgene, the brash increases triggered rare internal dissent. Betty Swartz, the company\u2019s vice president of U.S. market access, objected to the measures in a pricing meeting with the CEO, who at the time was Alles, and other top executives. She said her concerns were swiftly dismissed, according to a whistleblower lawsuit she filed and later dismissed.    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmafw0ied004v3b6medml2p6s@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">            \u201cWhy would you be afraid to take an increase on our products?\u201d she said the CEO told her. \u201cWhat could be the worst thing that happens \u2026 a tweet here or there and bad press for a bit.\u201d Swartz declined to comment.    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmafw0ied004w3b6mjkwfrg1v@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">            The price increases added to the burden faced by many patients. In online groups, patients use words like \u201cridiculous,\u201d \u201cugly\u201d and \u201ckiller\u201d when talking about the financial pain they have experienced related to the high costs associated with Revlimid. Some have taken out mortgages, raided retirement funds or cut back on everyday expenses like groceries to pay for Revlimid. Others have found overseas suppliers who ship the drug for pennies on the dollar, although doctors caution there\u2019s no way to guarantee quality. Some just decide not to take the drug.    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmafw0ied004x3b6mxqv8n9ky@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">            By increasing the price of Revlimid, Celgene executives in several instances boosted their pay. That\u2019s because bonuses were tied to meeting revenue and earnings targets. In some years, executives would not have hit those targets without the Revlimid price increases, a congressional investigation later found.    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmafw0ied004y3b6mma66hfll@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">            In total, Celgene paid a handful of top executives about a half-billion dollars in the 12 years after Revlimid was approved.    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmafw0ied004z3b6mrj4751xo@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">            Robert Hugin, who worked as Celgene\u2019s CEO and then executive chairman, received $51 million in total compensation from 2015 to 2017. Hugin retired in 2018 to launch an unsuccessful Senate bid.    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmafw0ied00503b6mpx3tdufa@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">            Even sales reps earned more than $1 million a year and were rewarded with trips to resorts such as the Four Seasons in Maui. That pay is more than two times what the average oncologist earns.    <\/p>\n<div data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/related-content\/instances\/cmafwgmlr006z3b6mq9yhh8ar@published\" data-component-name=\"related-content\" class=\"related-content-elevate related-content--article\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">\n<header class=\"related-content__title related-content__title-text\" data-editable=\"content.title\">Related article<\/header>\n<section class=\"related-content__body\">\n<div class=\"related-content__image image__related-content\">\n<div data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/image\/instances\/clpveayhr001725ny46nxfcto@published\" class=\"image-elevate image__hide-placeholder\" data-image-variation=\"image\" data-name=\"Amy Klobuchar FILE 2023\" data-component-name=\"image\" data-observe-resizes=\"\" data-breakpoints=\"{&quot;image--eq-extra-small&quot;: 115, &quot;image--eq-small&quot;: 300, &quot;image--eq-large&quot;: 660}\" data-original-ratio=\"0.6668\" data-original-height=\"1667\" data-original-width=\"2500\" data-url=\"https:\/\/media.cnn.com\/api\/v1\/images\/stellar\/prod\/231207115017-amy-klobuchar-file-2023.jpg?c=original\" data-editable=\"settings\">\n<div class=\"image__container \" data-image-variation=\"image\" data-breakpoints=\"{&quot;image--eq-extra-small&quot;: 115, &quot;image--eq-small&quot;: 300, &quot;image--show-credits&quot;: 525}\">           <\/div>\n<div class=\"image__metadata-container media__metadata-container\">\n<div class=\"image__metadata media__metadata\">\n<div class=\"image__caption attribution\">    <span data-editable=\"metaCaption\" class=\"inline-placeholder\">Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) speaks during a Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation hearing entitled &#8220;Strengthening Airline Operations and Consumer Protections,&#8221;  focusing on the holiday meltdown, that forced Southwest to cancel thousands of flights, on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., February 9, 2023. REUTERS\/Amanda Andrade-Rhoades<\/span>  <\/div><figcaption class=\"image__credit\">Amanda Andrade-Rhoades\/Reuters<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmafw0iee00513b6mpixocs09@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">            I connected with Hugin just before Christmas while he was driving. He was ardent in his defense of the pricing of Revlimid. He told me the drug passes any cost-benefit analysis because of its impact on multiple myeloma patients like myself. \u201cPeople recognize when you have a breakthrough therapy and you have an opportunity to deliver that, you want to deliver that across the world,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd I think Revlimid is an example of a product that ends up to be a global lifesaver because of what it did.\u201d    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmafw0iee00523b6mqmhk115b@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">            Hugin told me that when Revlimid has unlimited generic competition, the price will be \u201ccheaper than aspirin\u201d and patients will benefit from that low price for many decades.    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmafw0iee00533b6ma65vejd0@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">            Celgene also cited the cost of developing drugs and its expansive research efforts as reasons for the high cost of Revlimid. Celgene said it spent $800 million to develop Revlimid and spent several hundred million more on additional trials to study the use of the drug in other cancers. Those combined figures represent about 2% to 3% of Revlimid sales through 2018.    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmafw0iee00553b6mdo4w00kr@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">            By the end of 2018, Celgene\u2019s stock was down 56% over the past 15 months amid development failures. Despite the raft of bad news, Alles\u2019 total pay that year increased by $3 million to $16.2 million.    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmafw0iee00563b6mf0lzphsh@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">            Celgene tried desperately to boost its flagging stock price by buying back $6 billion of its own shares that year.    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmafw0iee00573b6majfd882z@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">            Ultimately, the buyback was not enough. Just days into the new year in 2019, Celgene announced it had agreed to be acquired by Bristol Myers Squibb in a deal valued at $74 billion.    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmafw0iee00583b6mldmnhrnv@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">            As part of a severance agreement, top Celgene executives stood to make millions once the deal closed. For Alles, that meant a potential estimated payday of $27.9 million.    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmafw0iee00593b6mzdha5klj@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">            In the fall of 2020, Alles appeared before the House Oversight Committee, which was investigating the high cost of prescription drugs. He said pricing decisions \u201creflected our commitment to patient access, the value of a medicine to patients and the health care system, the continuous effort to discover new medicines and new uses for existing medicines, and the need for financial flexibility.\u201d    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmafw0iee005a3b6min6yuebf@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">            When it came time for questions, then-Rep. Katie Porter, D-Calif., quizzed Alles in rapid-fire style about Revlimid. Did the drug change as the price increased? Did it work faster? Were there fewer side effects? The drug was the same, Alles responded.    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmafw0iee005b3b6msemoh3na@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">            \u201cSo, to recap here,\u201d Porter said. \u201cThe drug didn\u2019t get any better. The cancer patients didn\u2019t get any better. You just got better at making money. You just refined your skills at price gouging.\u201d    <\/p>\n<div data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/image\/instances\/cmahok8p6000f3b6mntzdl8v3@published\" class=\"image-elevate image__hide-placeholder\" data-image-variation=\"image\" data-name=\"14_20250505-revlimid-secondary-09mobilehi.JPG\" data-component-name=\"image\" data-observe-resizes=\"\" data-breakpoints=\"{&quot;image--eq-extra-small&quot;: 115, &quot;image--eq-small&quot;: 300, &quot;image--eq-large&quot;: 660}\" data-original-ratio=\"0.375\" data-original-height=\"1125\" data-original-width=\"3000\" data-url=\"https:\/\/media.cnn.com\/api\/v1\/images\/stellar\/prod\/14-20250505-revlimid-secondary-09mobilehi.JPG?c=original\" data-editable=\"settings\">\n<div class=\"image__container \" data-image-variation=\"image\" data-breakpoints=\"{&quot;image--eq-extra-small&quot;: 115, &quot;image--eq-small&quot;: 300, &quot;image--show-credits&quot;: 525}\">           <\/div>\n<div class=\"image__metadata-container media__metadata-container\">\n<div class=\"image__metadata media__metadata\">\n<div class=\"image__caption attribution\">    <span data-editable=\"metaCaption\" class=\"inline-placeholder\"><\/span>  <\/div><figcaption class=\"image__credit\">ProPublica<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<h3 class=\"subheader inline-placeholder subheader-elevate\" data-editable=\"text\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/subheader\/instances\/cmafw0kt4005y3b6mclfw3ikj@published\" data-component-name=\"subheader\" id=\"the-drumbeat-continues\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">        The drumbeat continues<\/h3>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmafw0iee005c3b6mv0qgltc9@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">            High prices have consequences beyond individual patients. While there have been tremendous advancements in the treatment of my disease, there is still no cure. The specter of relapse hovers over every blood test, every new ache or pain.    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmafw0iee005d3b6myhkk1wvc@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">            The day I learned I was in remission, in November 2023, was bittersweet. I wrote at the time that I didn\u2019t get to ring a bell \u2014 the traditional sign that a cancer patient has finished treatment. Instead, my doctor explained the next step: \u201cmaintenance\u201d treatment.    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmafw0iee005e3b6m49looa8v@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">            This includes not only continuing Revlimid, but making monthly visits to my cancer center to get a shot of a bone-strengthening drug, have another drug injected into my stomach and blood drawn for lab tests.    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmafw0iee005f3b6mv63f4tcl@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">            \u201cThe visit,\u201d I wrote that day, \u201conly reinforced the fact that I\u2019m a patient, and I always will be.\u201d    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmafw0iee005g3b6m67emghx7@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">            For most of us, cancer will return at some point after treatment. And for most patients, the drugs eventually stop working.    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmafw0iee005h3b6muvmwg8yf@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">            Revlimid can also be difficult to live with. Some patients quit the drug after developing severe gastrointestinal issues, infections or liver problems. The drug also poses an increased risk of stroke, heart attack and secondary cancers.    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmafw0iee005i3b6m3g81e7vg@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">            Those are the trade-offs for keeping multiple myeloma in check.    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmafw0iee005l3b6m4j87plj2@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">            Meanwhile, the drumbeat of price increases continues under Bristol Myers Squibb, helping the company bring in $48 billion in revenue from Revlimid since it purchased Celgene. Bristol said its pricing \u201creflects the continued clinical benefit Revlimid brings to patients, along with other economic factors.\u201d The company said it is \u201ccommitted to achieving unfettered patient access to our medicines\u201d and provides some financial support for eligible patients. \u201cWhile BMS develops prices for its medicines, we do not determine what patients will pay out of pocket.\u201d    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmafw0iee005m3b6m5xsi3x7p@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">            Last July, the cost of my monthly Revlimid prescription increased by 7% to $19,660.    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmafw0iee005n3b6mwteqtpri@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">            At the beginning of this year, my insurer switched me to generic Revlimid. I didn\u2019t fight it, thinking it would result in a dramatic decrease in what ProPublica\u2019s health plan pays for the drug.    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmafw0iee005o3b6mrmvjafc5@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">            It turns out it is not much of a savings: The generic costs $17,349 a month.    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmafw0iee005p3b6mlsejt7xo@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">            <em>Alec Glassford<\/em><em> contributed research.<\/em>    <\/p>\n<\/p>\n<div>This post appeared first on cnn.com<\/div>\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Cancer Prescription drugs Health care policy See all topics Facebook Tweet Email Link Link Copied!&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3144,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3143","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/healthyretirementnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3143","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/healthyretirementnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/healthyretirementnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthyretirementnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthyretirementnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3143"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/healthyretirementnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3143\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthyretirementnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3144"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/healthyretirementnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3143"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthyretirementnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3143"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthyretirementnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3143"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}