Price gouging on baby formula? WA senators Murray and Cantwell demand investigation

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration needs to investigate whether national retail chains and online sellers have raised specialized infant formula prices during the current shortage, says Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash.

“No one should be profiting off the infant formula shortage, especially giant retail chains,” Murray said. “This is a critical moment where the federal government needs to crack down on any price gouging during this crisis.”

She led other senators in sending a letter Tuesday to Lina Khan, chairwoman of the Federal Trade Commission, asking that staff investigate unfair trade practices at national retail chains.

Murray is joined on the letter by Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., who is the chairwoman of the Senate Commerce Committee, which oversees the FTC.

“It’s my job to be a voice for Washington state parents in Richland, or anywhere else, who need to be heard in Congress — and no parent who is desperate to feed their baby should be seeing higher price tags for their baby’s infant formula because a corporation is trying to pad its profits,” Murray said in a comment to the Tri-City Herald.

Tri-Cities area parents continue to have to search for the different types of infant formula that is best for their baby.

There were 28 posts in the 24 hours by mid morning Tuesday on the Facebook Tri-Cities Find My Formula page sharing tips on where formula was and was not available, asking for help locating specific formulas and warning of a scammer.

Formula price increases

“Just opened my last can of formula,” posted a foster mom. She said she could not find that brand and formula her foster baby tolerates best, Nutramigen, and posted a photo of the rash across the baby girl’s face when she tried a different, hypoallergenic formula.

Another mom posted that she had a canister to spare the foster mom as she was planning a drive to Spokane in search of more.

Nutramigen, which is made for babies with allergies to cows’ milk and those who may develop eczema or asthma, is one of the more difficult formulas to find now, said Mac Jaehnert of Richland.

He administers the local Find My Formula Facebook page after earlier having trouble finding a specialty supplement needed by his daughter who was born prematurely.

He says that a Tri-Cities Rite Aid has raised its price for Nutramigen in the past 18 months from $33 or $34 to $44.

“That’s a really big jump,” he said.

He also checked Target, which had a lower price, but no canisters on the shelf, he said.

Rite Aid is one of the few stores in the Tri-Cities that has Nutramigen in stock, but parents who find it there still may leave the store empty handed, he said.

Not only are prices up, but Rite Aid does not accept Washington state Women, Infants and Children Nutrition Program, or WIC, payments, leaving parents to pay $44 out of pocket, he said.

Rite Aid did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Specialized formulas an issue

Murray and other senators have received similar reports that some major retail chains and online secondary marketplaces have significantly increased prices for specialized formula products.

“One major retailer appears to have increased its price for at least one specialized formula by more than 33% between October 2020 and May 2022,” the letter to the FTC chairwoman said.

Parents and guardians are reporting that when they find sellers online with specialized formula, they are sometimes more than double the cost in stores.

Among babies that need specialized formulas are ones allergic to milk and infants born prematurely, who need specific formula to help them develop.

“At a time when families are already contending with inflation, these practices harm children and their families when they are most vulnerable,” the letter said. “They must be investigated and curtailed.”

Murray and other senators signing the letter are asking that the FTC work with state attorneys general, including Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson, to make sure companies that price gouge for specialty formula products are held accountable.

Murray has previously pressed the the Food and Drug Administration on its delayed response to concerns about the Abbott Nutrition facility in Michigan.

A whistleblower warned the FDA of issues at the Abbott plant in October, but the FDA did not inspect the plant until Jan. 31. And on February 17, formula was recalled.

In recent weeks Murray has worked with Sen. Bob Casey, D-Penn., to push manufacturers to produce more formulas and to call on the Biden administration to appoint a formula coordinator to lead a national strategy.

Murray also chaired a hearing on the infant formula crisis, grilling FDA Commissioner Robert Califf on his agency’s response to the crisis.

This story was originally published June 14, 2022 at 2:00 PM.