{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.mccaskill.senate.gov/media-center/news-releases/mccaskill-statement-on-arrest-of-valeant-and-philidor-employees", "McCaskill Statement on Arrest of Valeant and Philidor Employees", "2016-11-18", "2016", "2016-11", "Democrat", "House", "MO", "Claire McCaskill", "M001170", "www.mccaskill.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "McCaskill Statement on Arrest of Valeant and Philidor Employees \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t Senator: Valeant\u2019s actions represent a culture of corruption  \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\tFriday, November 18, 2016\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\tWASHINGTON \u2014 U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill issued the following statement after Federal prosecutors in New York announced the arrest of a former executive of Valeant Pharmaceuticals and the former chief executive of the mail-order pharmacy Philidor:\r\n\u201cIt\u2019s been obvious for some time that Valeant\u2019s business model relied on corporate acquisitions followed by egregious price hikes, but it\u2019s also becoming increasingly certain that there was a culture of corruption surrounding the company. I hope anyone found to have committed crimes in this industry is prosecuted to the full extent of the law.\u201d\r\nValeant consistently acquired pharmaceutical companies with drug portfolios that had captive patient populations, often then slashing the research and development spending for those companies and raising the prices on their recently-acquired drugs by hundreds or thousands of percentage points without making any therapeutic changes to the drugs. Valeant\u2019s entire research and development budget was consistently below 5 percent of their total sales\u2014dramatically lower than most other companies in the pharmaceutical industry.\r\nEarlier this year McCaskill helped lead the Senate Special Committee on Aging\u2019s investigation into pharmaceutical drug pricing with a series of hearings examining the effect dramatic and sudden price increases of prescription drugs has on patients and providers.\r\nThis year alone, Americans are expected to spend more than $328 billion on prescription drugs.\u00a0 Of this amount, individuals will pay about $50 billion out-of-pocket.\u00a0 The federal government will pick up another $110 billion in payments through Medicare, Medicaid, Veterans Affairs, and other programs.\r\nVisit\u00a0mccaskill.senate.gov/consumers to learn more about McCaskill's fight to protect consumers.\r\n###\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\tPrint\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\tEmail\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t  \n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\tTweet", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.mccaskill.senate.gov/media-center/news-releases/mccaskill-statement-on-arrest-of-valeant-and-philidor-employees"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.454352866858244, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}