Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal is investigating complaints of price gouging on Tamiflu among major retail pharmacies during a seasonal shortage of the anti-flu treatment.
Blumenthal says his office has gotten complaints about erratic and excessive Tamiflu prices at major pharmacies, including CVS Caremark, Rite Aid and Walgreen Co. All three operate drug stores throughout Connecticut.
The AG said his office has received information suggesting that some pharmacies have charged substantially higher out-of-pocket prices for Tamiflu, in some cases as high as $130 or more.
He said he has also heard that some retailers, in a process called “prescription compounding,” may be purchasing capsules of higher-dosage Tamiflu from distributers and remarketing it as liquid-form lower dosages at greatly inflated prices.
“Feverish full-throttle greed is the only explanation and no justification for such price abuses,” Blumenthal said in a statement. “Such abuses reflect a sickness — an ethical ailment in need of treatment.”
Walgreen Co., which operates a large distribution center in Windsor, said that like other drug retailers it has faced a shortage of liquid Tamiflu and has resorted to prescription compounding to augment.
However, spokesman Jim Cohn said, “Walgreen’s at no point has raised [Tamiflu] prices this flu season.”
CVS confirms being contacted last week by Blumenthal’s office about Tamiflu pricing and said it plans to respond by the end of today.
CVS added that it has “reduced our prices for Tamiflu in the last year in response to the H1N1 flu pandemic.”
Rite Aid did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
As part of his probe, Blumenthal has demanded they disclose details about their Tamiflu pricing policies during the ongoing H1N1 flu pandemic and the Tamiflu shortage.
Among other things, he wants to know current prices for Tamiflu in all dosages and in both liquid and capsule form; how much they charged consumers for the same dosages and forms of Tamiflu three months, six months and one year ago; and whether the pharmacy is honoring price quotes given to potential customers before the Tamiflu shortage.
