KevinMD January 2, 2026
Internal medicine and pulmonary physician Bharat Desai discusses his article “How Acthar Gel became a $250,000 drug.” Bharat shares the shocking moment he realized an obsolete pituitary extract from 1952 was being sold for the price of a house. He explains how pharmaceutical companies exploited regulatory loopholes to reclassify a cheap animal derivative as a specialty biologic and effectively monopolize the market despite the existence of superior synthetic alternatives like prednisone. The conversation exposes the deep rot within the medical profession where key opinion leaders and institutions accepted industry funding to promote a physiological absurdity over evidence-based care. We must question how intellectual surrender allows corporate greed to exploit the very patients doctors are sworn to protect.
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