The Senate Special Committee on Aging held the first of a series of hearings aimed at investing the recent spate of off-patent drug hikes epitomized by Turing Pharmaceuticals Inc., which raised the price on a 62-year-old drug by nearly 5,500 percent and limited its access to specialty pharmacies. During the two-hour hearing, led by Chairman Susan Collins (R-Maine) and ranking member Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.), members heard from treating physicians and health care experts how the dramatic price increases are affecting real-world patient care.

At a conference sponsored by the Food and Drug Law Institute, the Jonathan Olin, of the U.S. Department of Justice said the department will not only be more proactive in pursuing cases involving drug- and device makers rather than just waiting for them to land on the agency's desk, but that the monetary penalties imposed will come to "more than just the cost of doing business."