Hillary Clinton: 'I'm Going After' Valeant

Democratic Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton released a new video ad on Monday directly attacking Valeant Pharmaceuticals Intl Inc (NYSE: VRX)'s drug pricing policies.

Clinton's video ad, which was uploaded to her YouTube profile, was viewed just 200 times by mid-Tuesday morning.

In the video, Clinton discussed a supporter who has been taking a brand name drug since the early 1980s at an approximate cost of $180 for 10 shots. However, the latest refill cost the supporter $14,700 for the same 10 shots.

"And the company is called Valeant Pharmaceuticals," Clinton said in her ad. "And I'm going after them. This is predatory pricing and we are going to make sure it is stopped."

According to Stat News, the un-named drug in Clinton's ad is called dihydroergotamine, or DHE 45 and is a migraine medication. The publication, citing a report from the Financial Times, confirmed that a series of price increases between July 2014 and July 2015 brought the price of 10 vials to $14,120.

Valeant commented on its wesbite back in January that that a generic version of its drug has been available since 2003. Accordingly, the company's market share has "declined significantly" to less than 1 percent.

Valeant expects to realize approximately $1 million in sales for DHE 45 in fiscal 2016. In fact, the company needs to purchase a minimum of 1,000 units from its contract manufacturer and expects to sell just 200 of these units.

"Whenever the sales volume of a drug declines, manufacturers must consider pricing adjustments to keep production of the drug viable," the company added in its defense. "Patients are able to choose generic versions of the drug, however, at significantly lower prices."

Shares of Valeant hit a new 52-week low of $61.40 on Tuesday and was trading lower by around 5 percent.

Image credit: MarcNozell, Flickr