Valeant Chief, at Senate hearing, concedes mistakes on steep drug prices

[Jacque67 7,328]

https://www.google.co.jp/url?sa=t&source=web&cd=1&ved=0ahUKEwjNjfaOybHMAhVKEpQKHaeJBKoQFggNMAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2F2016%2F04%2F28%2Fbusiness%2Fvaleant-pearson-ackman-hearing-congress-drug-prices.html&usg=AFQjCNH8AG08iILojBouwa4-sHSqLpgL7g&sig2=4yULLmrBGevPnqJZm76gxA

[smilesammich 10,727]

The chief executive of Valeant Pharmaceuticals International, which has been harshly criticized for its practice of raising prices on old drugs, said during a tense hearing on Capitol Hill on Wednesday that the company had made “mistakes,” while lawmakers accused him and others connected to Valeant of favoring profits over patients’ needs.

“Let me state plainly that it was a mistake to pursue, and in hindsight I regret pursuing, transactions where a central premise was a planned increase in the prices of the medicines,” J. Michael Pearson, the chief executive, said at the hearing.

The Senate Special Committee on Aging, which held the hearing, has been investigating companies that have raised prices on old drugs to exorbitant heights. Mr. Pearson, who will soon step down as chief executive, appeared subdued and sometimes slumped in his seat as he answered questions.

Some of the senators appeared unmoved by Mr. Pearson’s expression of regret. Senator Claire McCaskill of Missouri, the ranking Democrat on the committee, said the company’s policy was “using patients as hostages. It’s immoral. It hurts real people and it makes Americans very, very angry.”

what part of capitalism do you not understand, senate special committee on aging (lol)? two things that don't work/fit in the capitalist model, healthcare and morality.