Pharma giant Aspen Pharmacare raised the price of one of its life-saving drugs by up to 600% -- then forced Ireland’s Health and Safety Executive (HSE) to buy it.

The company claimed there would be stock shortages if the HSE refused to match its price demands, for drugs treating leukaemia, ovarian cancer and Hodgkin lymphoma.

We can’t let private insurers keep pushing up the prices of these life saving drugs. People around the world continue to fall ill and die because the cost of medicine is spiralling out of control. By applying public pressure in this instance we can stand up to Aspen’s bullying tactics and force it to stop hiking its prices.

Aspen Pharmacare: stop price gouging on life saving drugs!

In a series of emails with the HSE in late 2012, an Aspen agent warned the HSE that it was “hesitant to replenish” its stock of drugs until the price increases were approved, and warned “severe stock shortages” if it didn’t get its way.

The European Commission is now investigating whether Aspen abused its dominant position in the market, and “engaged in excessive pricing concerning five life-saving cancer medications” in other EU countries.

With condemnation coming from the Irish Cancer Society too, Aspen is feeling the pressure to act.

Tell Aspen Pharmacare to put the interests of patients before its bottom line: stop price gouging now!

At SumOfUs, we believe medicine should be available to those who need it, at a reasonable cost. That’s why over 300,000 SumOfUs members like you stood up against Turing Pharmaceuticals CEO Martin Shrkeli when he boosted cancer and HIV drug Daraprim by 5,500%.

We’ve stood up to Big Pharma before -- we can do it again.

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