It was revealed this week that the Justice Department would be investigating several big pharma manufacturers, including Gilead Sciences Inc., Johnson & Johnson, and GlaxoSmithKline PLC’s ViiV Healthcare, for allegedly selling hundreds of millions of dollars of secondhand and fake medications, including HIV treatments.
In a time when Americans have unprecedented skepticism of big pharma companies, the investigation only continues to undermine trust in the healthcare sector.
Allegedly, “70 defendants [have been accused] of taking part in a sweeping counterfeiting operation that sold more than $250 million of its drugs in the prior two years,” according to the Wall Street Journal. Some of the allegedly counterfeit medications in question include “Gilead’s Biktarvy, which has a list price of $3,584 a month, and Johnson & Johnson’s Symtuza, which runs more than $4,000 a month.”
The Justice Department declined to comment on the investigation at this time.
What do you think about this investigation? Do you trust big pharma companies?
