Congressman calls for probe into Valeant’s pricing of lead poisoning drug

The real disgusting thing here is that EDTA, the heavy metal chelator, is one of the most commonly used chemicals in molecular biology. It costs very little to synthesize and is very stable when stored at room temp. In fact, it can be stored as a powder and reconstituted just-in-time to increase stability. There really is no reason this drug should cost more than a few dollars.

While some will condemn this is runaway greed, this is a natural side-effect of a healthcare system turned over to the private market. Outcomes and/or public health improvements are side-effects, if the happen great, but the motive will always be profit, regardless of how you get there (so long as it's legal).

It&#x27;s worth noting that Valeant has addressed this and the drug in question would not work as politicians such as Bernie Sanders have been implying in relation to what happened in Flint Michigan:<p><a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.valeantnow.com&#x2F;valeant-corrects-inaccurate-statements-regarding-calcium-disodium-versenate-cdv&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.valeantnow.com&#x2F;valeant-corrects-inaccurate-statem...</a>

For what it&#x27;s worth, they bought it as a failing product with decreasing sales volume. It could be that for the reasons they laid out, it could not be reasonably produced in such small quantities without incurring a loss, which would explain why they were sold it.

Oh goody, another probe for political points that won&#x27;t address the insane underlying issues, which Congress is responsible for in the first place. What a joke, and what a poor excuse for &quot;circus&quot;.<p>The healthcare and IP systems in this country need an enema.

<i>Two years ago, the drug maker boosted the list price for Calcium EDTA by roughly 2,700 percent.</i><p>I understand the need for large numbers to wow the reader, but I find this less clear than &quot;Two years ago, the drug maker multiplied the price of Calcium EDTA by 28&quot;.