How a 25-Cent Pill Became a Hundred-Billion-Dollar Business
6/11/202641 min
Reporter David Armstrong was diagnosed with cancer and soon learned that one of his drugs would cost almost $1,000 per pill. He set out to discover why, and uncovered financial records and legal filings that shocked him. The drugmaker’s strategy to raise the price over and over again helps explain why our healthcare system is the most expensive in the world.
Read the original reporting: https://www.propublica.org/article/revlimid-price-cancer-celgene-drugs-fda-multiple-myeloma
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First 90 secondsJessica Lussenhop· Host0:01
ProPublica. Investigative journalism in the public interest. Have you ever tried asking your doctor how much a procedure is going to cost? They never know, and I always feel stupid for asking. But let's be real. I already know the answer. Expensive. Expensive is going to be the cost. Even if my health insurance covers it and I don't wind up paying out of pocket for it, somebody is. We have the most expensive healthcare system in the world, but it's really hard for somebody like me to understand why. Why things are priced the way they are and why it has to be this way. My colleague David Armstrong has been doing some reporting that actually, for the first time, helped me understand how things can get so expensive.
David Armstrong· Guest0:55
I had never kept a journal before, but, you know, after I got back from the hospital, I was there a few days, I started to write.
Jessica Lussenhop· Host1:05
David is one of the best healthcare reporters in the country. He spent decades covering the medical-industrial complex and big pharma.
Speaker 31:14
Is the February 17th, 2023, is that the first one?
David Armstrong· Guest1:17
Yes.
Jessica Lussenhop· Host1:18
I for sure want to hear that one, if you're up for it.
David Armstrong· Guest1:21
Yeah, okay. A male nurse checked me in. I told them GP sent me and was going to call ahead. But this did not begin as a reporting project.
Jessica Lussenhop· Host1:29
He