Valeant cutting ties with Philidor on ‘phantom pharmacy’ allegations

Company under intense scrutiny for its drug prices

In this file photo, shoppers are offered bags as they enter a Primark retail store in the Downtown Crossing neighborhood of Boston. The University of Michigan issues its monthly index of consumer sentiment for September on Oct 30. (AP) NEW YORK, Oct 30, (AP): Valeant Pharmaceuticals, a company that has come under intense scrutiny for its drug prices, has cut ties with Philidor following accusations that it was a “phantom pharmacy” used solely to artificially boost sales.

Valeant said Friday that the mail-order pharmacy has informed the company that it will shut down as soon as possible.

The imminent end of Philidor comes just hours after the nation’s two largest pharmacy benefit providers, CVS Health and Express Scripts, said that they had ended all interactions with the company citing its business practices. UnitedHealth Group conducted an audit of Philidor in late 2014 and began cutting ties with the company “in the interests of our customers.”

Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc. is under fire for its practice of buying smaller drug developers and then hiking prices on the medicines developed by that company. At the same time, the company’s profits have skyrocketed as it slashed spending on research into new drugs.

Valeant had become a Wall Street favorite and its shares hit an all-time high as recently as August, but it has been hammered relentlessly since coming under a national spotlight.

Share prices have plunged almost 60 percent in the past three months, wiping away billions and market capitalization.

Federal prosecutors have subpoenaed documents tied to Valeant’s drug pricing and other practices ahead of a presidential election in which the soaring price of prescription medicines has become a top political issue.

Valeant Chairman and CEO J. Michael Pearson said Friday that the latest allegations prompted a loss of confidence in Philidor’s operations.

“We know the allegations have also led them to question Valeant and our integrity, and for that I take complete responsibility,” Pearson said. “Operating honestly and ethically SAN FRANCISCO, Oct 30, (AP): One of the nation’s most storied tech companies will split in two this weekend, another casualty of seismic shifts in the way people use technology — and big-company sluggishness in responding.

Hewlett-Packard was an early pioneer of what became the model for Silicon Valley startups: Founded in 1939 by two Stanford graduates in a Palo Alto, California garage, HP was long celebrated for its engineering know-how and laid-back corporate culture. It made hefty profits as it grew into a multinational giant that sold a wide range of computer gear and commercial tech services.

But after struggling to keep pace with recent trends like the rise of smartphones and cloud computing. HP’s board decided last year to create two smaller companies, each with a narrower focus.

HP Inc. will sell personal computers and printers; Hewlett-Packard Enterprise will sell commercial computer systems, software and tech services. Starting Monday, each will trade separately on the New York

is our first priority, and you have my absolute commitment that we will make it right.”

The company said it plans to fill any prescription lapses at its own expense to ensure patients’ access to drugs as Philidor shuts down.

Last week, short seller researcher firm Citron accused Valeant of using Philidor to create a network of “phantom pharmacies” to steer pharmacy benefit managers toward Valeant’s more expensive drugs, instead of lower-priced alternatives.

Valeant announced this week that it was forming special board committee to take a closer look Philidor, including why the company was denied a permit last year to Stock Exchange.

The old HP “missed the emergence of the Web,” said tech analyst Peter Burris at Forrester Research. “They missed the emergence of mobile.” HP’s current chief executive, who pushed for the split, says the new spinoffs will be more nimble. CEO Meg Whitman will run HP Enterprise, while PC industry veteran Dion Weisler will lead HP Inc. Each will be independent, with “flexibility to respond to a constantly evolving market,” Whitman told an investor conference last month. “With less to focus on,” she added, “each company will do core things better.” By dividing HP into roughly equal halves, analysts estimate, each spinoff should produce more than $50 billion in sales next year. But skeptics say neither will have the clout of the old HP, which became a leading consumer brand while using its vast size to negotiate volume discounts with suppliers and big contracts with business customers.

“They won’t have the impact that HP once had, now that they don’t have the

operate in California. The state’s pharmacy board cited, among other reasons, false statements about Philidor’s ownership and operations. A week prior, Valeant disclosed a $100 million investment in Philidor, with an option to buy the pharmacy.

On Friday, Valeant appointed former U.S. Deputy Attorney General Mark Filip to advise the committee looking Philidor.

Ire over rising drug prices has only intensified in the latter half of this year.

A poll released Wednesday by the nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation showed that 77 percent of those surveyed said the cost of prescription drugs is their primary health concern. For years doctors and insurers have condemned the runaway cost WASHINGTON, Oct 30, (AP): Americans are feeling more confident this month, a good sign for an economy driven by consumer spending, according to a University of Michigan survey.

The university said Friday that its index of consumer sentiment rose to 90 after dropping to 87.2 in September from 91.9 in August.

Richard Curtin, chief economist for the university’s consumer surveys, says the entire gain was generated by improved spirits among lower-income households. Wealthier consumers were a bit less confident, worried about gyrations in financial markets that reflect deteriorating economic conditions overseas.

Bricklin Dwyer, economist with BNP Paribas, said the overall reading “suggests a relatively healthy level of consumer optimism.”

Households felt more favorably about their financial prospects than at any time since 2007. Their expectations for inflation are at the lowest level in a quarter century.

In its report on third-quarter economic growth Thursday, the Commerce Department said consumer spending rose at a solid 3.2 percent annual pace from July through September. depth of portfolio they once had,” predicted Rob Enderle, a longtime industry analyst. “It’s not clear what HP is anymore.”

Each of the spin-offs will face significant challenges: Demand for PCs and printers is continuing to decline, as more people use mobile devices and store their documents and photos online in the cloud. And in the commercial computing sector, more businesses are using online software instead of buying servers and other hardware from companies like HP.

HP recently said it’s giving up on competing directly in cloud computing, a growing business in which companies large and small run software in remote data centers operated by Amazon and others.

The same trends are rocking other longtime tech giants. Microsoft has been forced to change the way it sells software, as fewer people buy PCs that run its Windows operating system. PC-maker Dell is shifting its focus to corporate data centers, paying $67 billion to acquire commercial computing giant EMC Corp.

of prescription drugs.

Democratic presidential campaign candidates Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders have made unaffordable drugs a campaign issue and outlined reforms designed to keep drugmakers in check.

The public found its own villain last month in the CEO of Turing Pharmaceuticals, Martin Shkreli.

Shkreli’s company obtained rights to sell Daraprim, the only U.S.-approved treatment for a deadly parasitic infection called toxoplasmosis.

Shkreli, a former hedge fund manager, promptly raised the price of Daraprim, which had cost $13.50 for years, by 5,000 percent.