Cost Of A 62 Year Old Drug goes up By 5,550%

[Gut4Tennis]

Pharmaceutical Company Increases Cost Of A 62 Year Old Drug By 5,550% After It's Shown To Be Effective In Treating Toxoplasmosis...

The head of a US pharmaceutical company has defended his company's decision to raise the price of a 62-year-old medication used by Aids patients by over 5,000%.

Turing Pharmaceuticals acquired the rights to Daraprim in August.

CEO Martin Shkreli has said that the company will use the money it makes from sales to research new treatments.

The drug is used treat toxoplasmosis, a parasitic affliction that affects people with compromised immune systems.

After Turning's acquisition, a dose of Daraprim in the US increased from $13.50 (£8.70) to $750.

The pill costs about $1 to produce, but Mr Shkreli, a former hedge fund manager, said that does not include other costs like marketing and distribution...

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-34320413

 

[stringertom]

Big Pharma doing what Big Pharma does. Gotta afford all those ball point pens they hand out and the golf junkets for the MDs.

 

[MatsPhilander]

Look at this odious little creep-looks like he is salivating at the increase in this pic.

 

[uncle pollo]

Get my shotgun. I have a loved one that needs that stuff.

 

[MatsPhilander]

Get my shotgun. I have a loved one that needs that stuff.

Not as much as he needs a new Ferrari, you goddam poor sick people & their relatives have no idea how hard it is being rich & needing more.

 

[MatsPhilander]

Some good news regarding another drug, hopefully the backlash will be too much for this dweeb as well.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/22/business/big-price-increase-for-tb-drug-is-rescinded.html

 

[El Diablo]

They usually relent some on these increases, but some regulation may be needed here. Some years back two companies were making an injectable antipsychotic that had long since become a generic, and the head of the hospital pharmacy here told me he was paying two dollars a vial. One of the companies stopped making it, leaving the other with exclusivity, and he told me they raised the price the next day to two hundred dollars a vial.

 

[millicurie999]

Big Pharma doing what Big Pharma does. Gotta afford all those ball point pens they hand out and the golf junkets for the MDs.

The is worse than big pharma. Big pharma at least plays some roles, however in/significant, to develope a drug. What this guy does is pure speculation.

 

[movdqa]

One of the typical justifications for high drug prices is that they cost less than what the insurance system would pay for treatment without the drug.

There are some miracle drugs out there or drugs that easily take care of a lot of problems that were fatal or debilitating in the past. And, in many cases, we can get these drugs for next to nothing. But someone had to do the work to develop them. It seems that the pharma companies are pretty good at making these things inexpensively once they have sufficient volume.

 

[MatsPhilander]

One of the typical justifications for high drug prices is that they cost less than what the insurance system would pay for treatment without the drug.

There are some miracle drugs out there or drugs that easily take care of a lot of problems that were fatal or debilitating in the past. And, in many cases, we can get these drugs for next to nothing. But someone had to do the work to develop them. It seems that the pharma companies are pretty good at making these things inexpensively once they have sufficient volume.

Yep & at least most of them do actually have an interest in medicine/helping people for the most part. This guy only cares about himself & fellow millionaire shareholders.

 

[diggler]

Doesn't the patent run out after a while? Viagra is off patent. I know this fact very well.

I don't blame the company, I blame the regulators. He is not running a charity. He is there to maximise profit. If the government doesn't like it then they should pass a law.

 

[MatsPhilander]

Doesn't the patent run out after a while? Viagra is off patent. I know this fact very well.

I don't blame the company, I blame the regulators. He is not running a charity. He is there to maximise profit. If the government doesn't like it then they should pass a law.

Yes the law is an ass. However it doesn't justify him increasing the price by over 5 thousand percent overnight & he has prior form. However he has now backtracked after the outcry-including from Hilary Clinton & is going to lower the price back down. Nobody has any issue with making profit, but this was just horrendous considering what a vital drug it is & that there is no real clamour for research surrounding it.

Retrophin
Retrophin Inc. was created in 2011[6] and run from the offices of MSMB Capital as a portfolio company with an emphasis on biotechnology, to create treatments for orphan diseases.[3] In September 2014 Retrophin acquired the rights to Thiola, a drug used to treat the rare disease cystinuria. It was with Shkreli as CEO that Retrophin introduced a 20-fold price increase for Thiola, despite no additional research and development costs incurred by obtaining these rights.[7][8] Shkreli resigned from the company in October 2014 after Retrophin's Board decided to replace him that September[9] with Stephen Aselage being named as his replacement.[10] Shkreli then left Retrophin and started Turing Pharmaceuticals. During his tenure at Retrophin Shkreli was also criticized by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) for the alleged manipulation of the US Food and Drug Administration's regulatory process in order to move stock prices for his own financial gain,[11] though these allegations did not result in any charges. Retrophin filed a $65 million dollar lawsuit against Shkreli in August 2015,[9] claiming he breached his duty of loyalty to the biopharmaceutical company in a long-running dispute over his use of company funds.[12][13]