Consumer Confidential: Drugmaker gets stingy with its help for needy

For 14 years, Ed Wright received an expensive prescription medication for free through a drug-industry program intended to assist people with limited or fixed incomes.

Now he's rationing his doses after a change to the program that imposed a $1,100 deductible before he can get a refill.

"I can't afford that," Wright, 75, told me. "When I run out in a few weeks, that's going to be it."

He isn't alone. Industry watchers say soaring drug prices have prompted many pharmaceutical companies to rethink long-standing programs to help subsidize purchases or even give meds away for free.

"More and more people have become aware of these programs, and demand has gone up,"