SAN DIEGO, Sept. 22, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Imprimis
Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: IMMY), a pharmaceutical company
dedicated to making drugs affordable through its Branded
Compounding™ business model, published a 75-page well-referenced
drug pricing monograph describing specific proposals that will
drive competition, transparency and patient access by lowering drug
costs for Americans.
- Imprimis is known for its Imprimis Cares® program and a 99 cent
alternative to the $750 per pill
Daraprim®, which was introduced in October
2015 after Turing Pharmaceuticals increased the price of the
drug by over 5,000 percent. Imprimis made its 99 cent alternative to Daraprim using only
FDA-approved components. To date, Imprimis has dispensed more
than 20,000 doses, representing a savings to patients and
healthcare providers of more than $10
million when compared to purchasing Daraprim®.
- The company began combatting overpriced pharmaceutical prices
in April 2014, when it first
introduced Dropless Therapy® for use by prescription after cataract
surgery. Dropless Therapy is changing post-surgery care by
allowing most patients to avoid weeks of tedious and expensive
post-surgical eye drops. A co-sponsored economic study with
not-for-profit Cataract Surgeons for Improved Eyecare, conducted by
Andrew Chang & Co. LLC
demonstrated that Dropless Therapy could save Medicare, Medicaid
and patients of up to $13 billion,
assuming a cost of $100 per dose of
Dropless Therapy.
- In May 2016, Imprimis introduced
its patent-pending tiopronin delayed release compounded
formulations, a lower-cost alternative to Thiola®, representing an
estimated cost savings of over 80 percent compared to Thiola®, a
chronic care drug which can cost in excess of $150,000 per year per patient.
- Under the Imprimis Cares program, Imprimis offers a
customizable pentosan polysulfate sodium delayed release (PPS-DR™)
compounded medication as an alternative to Elmiron® for the
treatment of symptoms associated with interstitial cystitis, at a
cost savings of 88 percent.
- Imprimis and its development team are currently working on
adding a compounded alternative to the Epi-Pen®, which the company
expects would be available at less than $100.
Imprimis' Founder and CEO, Mark L.
Baum, an advocate of pharmaceutical compounding as a viable
solution to the drug pricing crisis, has written a monograph,
entitled, "Pharmaceutical Compounding: An essential piece of the
healthcare reform puzzle", detailing current drug pricing issues
and outlining 15 concrete proposals for consideration by
policymakers. The monograph can be downloaded here. His
proposed actions are designed to abate the problems of high priced
and often unaffordable drugs, particularly old, off-patent
drugs. The monograph illuminates the key issues and what
should be done to restore a competitive equilibrium in the drug
markets. Among the key passages in the monograph is the
following:
"Federal and state drug regulatory
policy must refocus its priorities on those things that are most
important: taking care of patients, putting safety first, and
addressing the nation's growing drug shortage, drug pricing, and
drug accessibility problems. Safe and effective compounding
of necessary medications, by serving as the pin to burst the drug
pricing bubble that has negatively affected the health and
well-being of far too many Americans for too long, can be a
critical part of these needed reforms."
Mr. Baum also comments on the actions of Martin Shkreli, former CEO of Turing
Pharmaceuticals and other pharmaceutical CEOs that have taken
advantage of the loopholes in current policy that have allowed many
drug prices to skyrocket:
"The proverbial 'bottom line' is
that when Martin Shkreli called
members of Congress 'imbeciles' in the spring of 2016, he was not
necessarily hurling his vitriol at individual elected officials who
were confronting him. He was evidencing, in a crystal clear
diction, his disrespect and disdain for the American people he
sought to fleece through his drug pricing policies and his entire
business model. Shkreli is but one example of the many
pharmaceutical executives and companies that betrayed the inherent
social contract between the American pharmaceutical industry and
Americans that bestowed on it so many unusual privileges. It is now
up to the American people, our elected leaders and those who are
charged with the important work of government agencies to prove
Shkreli and the many others like him wrong. Drug and
healthcare policy must now encourage competition and work to the
advantage of consumers. We are not imbeciles; nor are we
lemmings."
Mark L. Baum, Chief Executive
Officer of Imprimis, stated, "Each day there is yet another example
of older, off-patent drugs that experience significant price
increases. Yesterday it was news of Chicago-based Novum Pharma and its increase of
an old off-patent drug Aloquin to more than $9,500 a tube, a more than 3,900% since its
acquisition only 18 months ago. Companies do this to
consumers because current policy prevents competition, particularly
for drugs like Aloquin. We plan to leverage our record of
success by bringing new, affordable compounded drug innovations to
market in order to combat high drug prices. We believe that
by continuing our efforts we will provide greater competition in
the U.S. prescription drug market, lower consumer prices for
certain critical medicines, and provide greater access to safe,
affordable drugs for all Americans."
Mr. Baum concluded, "While holding Congressional hearings to
gather testimony is important, at this point, taking action to
solve the problem is paramount."
Commitment to Patient Access
Imprimis is committed to the company's mission, vision and
values of providing patients with affordable access to the
medications they need. As with Imprimis' other formulations,
the alternative to Thiola resulted from the needs of patients,
physicians and payors for a lower-cost therapeutic solution.
Significant increases in drug prices, coupled with an increasing
number of higher deductible drug benefit plans and some insurance
companies simply refusing to cover costs altogether, make it
difficult for many patients to gain affordable access to the
medications they need. Imprimis plans to continue to expand
its Imprimis Cares formulary and introduce additional drug
formulations for patient populations that may not have available
alternatives to increasingly expensive FDA-approved
medications. To learn more about Imprimis Cares, please visit
http://www.imprimisrx.com/why-imprimisrx/imprimis-cares/.
About Imprimis Pharmaceuticals
Imprimis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: IMMY) is a
pharmaceutical company dedicated to making drugs affordable through
its Branded Compounding™ business model. The company is
focused on patient outcomes and affordability and offers high
quality lower-cost custom compounded drugs in all 50 states.
Headquartered in San Diego,
California, Imprimis owns and operates four dispensing
facilities located in California,
New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Texas. For more
information about Imprimis, please visit the corporate website at
www.ImprimisRx.com.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements within
the meaning of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of
1995. Any statements in this release that are not historical facts
may be considered such "forward looking statements."
Forward-looking statements are based on management's current
expectations and are subject to risks and uncertainties which may
cause results to differ materially and adversely from the
statements contained herein. Some of the potential risks and
uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ from those
predicted include our ability to make commercially available our
compounded formulations and technologies in a timely manner or at
all; physician interest in prescribing our formulations; risks
related to our compounding pharmacy operations; our ability to
enter into other strategic alliances, including arrangements with
pharmacies, physicians and healthcare organizations for the
development and distribution of our formulations; our ability to
obtain intellectual property protection for our assets; our ability
to accurately estimate our expenses and cash burn, and raise
additional funds when necessary; risks related to research and
development activities; the projected size of the potential market
for our technologies and formulations; unexpected new data, safety
and technical issues; regulatory and market developments impacting
compounding pharmacies, outsourcing facilities and the
pharmaceutical industry; competition; and market conditions. These
and additional risks and uncertainties are more fully described in
Imprimis' filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission,
including its Annual Report on Form 10-K and its Quarterly Reports
on Form 10-Q. Such documents may be read free of charge on the
SEC's web site at www.sec.gov. Undue reliance should not be placed
on forward looking statements, which speak only as of the date they
are made. Except as required by law, Imprimis undertakes no
obligation to update any forward looking statements to reflect new
information, events or circumstances after the date they are made,
or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events.
All Imprimis compounded formulations may only be prescribed
pursuant to a physician prescription for an individually identified
patient consistent with federal and state laws governing compounded
drug formulations.
Imprimis compounded formulations contain active
pharmaceutical ingredients that are components of FDA-approved
drugs.
Media Contact
Paul
Rabin
paul@pascalecommunications.com
516.503.0271
Investor Contact:
Bonnie
Ortega
bortega@imprimispharma.com
858.704.4587
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SOURCE Imprimis Pharmaceuticals, Inc.