Douchebag Ex-Hedge Funder Jacks Up Price Of AIDS Drug From $13 A Pill To $750
The founder and CEO of Turing Pharmaceuticals, ex-hedge fund manager Martin Shkreli, is facing backlash after hiking the price of Daraprim from $13.50 a tablet to $750 per tablet.
Daraprim has many uses, including helping AIDS patients who are suffering from a compromised immune system.
Shkreli tried to defend himself by saying that the drug is so rarely used that it would hardly have an impact on the health system, and that Turing would be using the money it earns from the price hike to develop better treatments for toxoplasmosis, with fewer side effects.
“This isn’t the greedy drug company trying to gouge patients, it is us trying to stay in business,” Shkreli said.
He claims that many patients end up using the drug for less than a year, and that now the price is more similar to other drugs used for rare diseases.
“This is still one of the smallest pharmaceutical products in the world,” he said. “It really doesn’t make sense to get any criticism for this.”
But criticism is exactly what he's getting.
An article by Daily Kos calls Shkreli "immoral" and "unethical" and also had this to say:
"Now, you are probably wondering, why do our leaders let profiteers like Shkreli get way with this nonsense? The answer is that we are the only major country in the world that does not negotiate drug prices for all of our people. In Italy or France or Canada or Denmark or Germany, the government sits down with drug companies and says, "we will only pay you this much money for your drug in our country. Take it or leave it!" In the United States, Medicare -- our single-payer program for those 65 and older who consume the majority of drugs in this country -- is legally barred from negotiating lower drug prices. The American taxpayers must literally pay the price that Turing or Pfizer or any other drug company demands. It's blackmail. It's extortion."
Dr. Aberg of Mount Sinai said that the price hike could now result in treatment delays, as some hospitals will not be able to afford to keep Daraprim in stock.
“This seems to be all profit-driven for somebody,” Dr. Aberg said, “and I just think it’s a very dangerous process.”
