CEO of Pharma Company Raises Cost of Aids Medicine from $13.50 to $750 Per Pill

[Marvolo]

Well, to be fair pharmaceutical research isnt free, and grants arent given out like Halloween candy. Pharmaceutical companies do have to make a profit, and I dont hold it against them. Its the unfortunate situation we have created.

However, excessive profiteering and how this sleezebag planned to make that profit is despicable. He was putting too much of the burden of research costs on a group that cant afford it. People with AIDS are already strapped for cash, and they shouldnt have to pay for a 5,555% markup on their medication. The money for research can come from other places. And this medicine is used on children so it makes this guy an even bigger *******.

He either has no shame or no mother figure in his life. How a man could do this and then look his mom in the eye I dont know. Mine would smack the **** out of me If I pulled a stunt like this.

 

[Black Narcissus]

This is why I don't understand the point of groups like Anonymous. Why aren't they attack and hack people like this guy?

Well, he might be on their radar now. Who even knew of the guy before this? I bet this guy has a russian wife or Mr. Robot is on my mind. Lawd.

 

[MessiahDecoy123]

He actually made the argument that 1,000 dollars was too cheap for life saving treatment.

The guy is literally the opposite of Jonas Salk.

 

[terry78]

He's like a cartoon villain. Or the villain in a ****ing Adam Sandler movie or a PG family flick. Remember John Larroquette in Richie Rich?

 

[Teelie]

He either has no shame or no mother figure in his life. How a man could do this and then look his mom in the eye I dont know. Mine would smack the **** out of me If I pulled a stunt like this.

Or father. Any half-decent father should have taught their child to be better than this.

Somewhere this guy lost his moral compass and didn't bother to look for it.

 

[redhawk23]

Well, to be fair pharmaceutical research isnt free, and grants arent given out like Halloween candy. Pharmaceutical companies do have to make a profit, and I dont hold it against them. Its the unfortunate situation we have created.

However, excessive profiteering and how this sleezebag planned to make that profit is despicable. He was putting too much of the burden of research costs on a group that cant afford it. People with AIDS are already strapped for cash, and they shouldnt have to pay for a 5,555% markup on their medication. The money for research can come from other places. And this medicine is used on children so it makes this guy an even bigger *******.

He either has no shame or no mother figure in his life. How a man could do this and then look his mom in the eye I dont know. Mine would smack the **** out of me If I pulled a stunt like this.

Its a medications that has been around for decades. Several companies have made their money without this kind of exploitation.

 

[DJ_KiDDvIcIOUs]

The thing that is funny to me is everyone gets worked up about this guy when the entire industry has been doing this to me Americans for years and nobody has been outraged by it. There are tons of list on the net showing how they jack up the prices in America compared to other countries for thousands of drugs

 

[Teelie]

The difference to this story and the rest is how blatant this guy was. Hopefully this will result in more scrutiny and demands for reasonable drug prices but Big Pharma likely won't let it get that far. Still nice to see this make national headlines for once.

 

[MadVillainy]

AIDS Drug Price Hiker Allegedly Offered His Ex-Girlfriend $10,000 to Let Him Perform Oral Sex on Her

Christ what an a**hole.
Really seems like the "touch me and my Dad will sue" type

 

[chaseter]

I'd take that offer.

 

[Thundercrack85]

I hope he dies of cancer. I really do.

 

[X Knight]

this is a good example of the expression:

"Just because you can do something, doesn't mean you SHOULD do it."

 

[Thundercrack85]

And I do mean ass cancer. And chemo don't work.

 

[PyroChamber]

Anonymous needs to take care of this guy.

 

[MessiahDecoy123]

He should be the villain in Purge 3: Rich Only Medicine.

 

[Anita18]

Well, to be fair pharmaceutical research isnt free, and grants arent given out like Halloween candy. Pharmaceutical companies do have to make a profit, and I dont hold it against them. Its the unfortunate situation we have created.

This is indeed true. When I used to work in a cancer research lab, I made less than an average Costco employee, and I was the highest paid person in the lab aside from my boss.

But I will say with 100% certainty that I and all my scientist friends would rather starve than work for Martin Shkreli.

Seriously, f*** that guy. If there was a definition for "punchable face," he has it. In fact, I and all of my scientist friends would line up to punch him in the face. What an awful excuse for a human being.

I wonder if he got the company from Rich Daddy. There's no f***ing way he earned that on his own. Or that he's even answering to a Board of Directors.

 

[MessiahDecoy123]

He's supposedly a child prodigy so he might have earned his way to the top just by being smart.

But it goes to show money and power is probably not often earned through integrity and selflessness.

People shouldn't idolize the rich, they should idiolize people like Jonas Salk.

 

[DarknessOfDeath]

AIDS Drug Price Hiker Allegedly Offered His Ex-Girlfriend $10,000 to Let Him Perform Oral Sex on Her

Christ what an a**hole.
Really seems like the "touch me and my Dad will sue" type

What a sick little prick this guy is...and to go out of his way to allegedly offer his ex-gf $10,000 for s*** like that? What a horrible human being. He's really making a name for himself, isn't he? I hope he gets what he deserves: A good billion serious of punches to the cock. lmao.

 

[Teelie]

Drug with rage-inducing >5,000% price-hike now has $1/pill competitor

This is how you deal with people like him. t:

Turing Pharmaceuticals, the company that last month raised the price of the decades-old drug Daraprim from $13.50 a pill to $750, now has a competitor.

Imprimis Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a specialty pharmaceutical company based in San Diego, announced today that it has made an alternative to Daraprim that costs about a buck a pill—or $99 for a 100-pill supply.

“While we respect Turing's right to charge patients and insurance companies whatever it believes is appropriate, there may be more cost-effective compounded options for medications, such as Daraprim,” Mark L. Baum, CEO of Imprimis, said in a news release.

The alternative is not exactly the same as Daraprim, but it’s close. Daraprim’s active ingredient is pyrimethamine, which has been available since 1953 for the treatment of parasitic diseases (namely malaria and toxoplasmosis). Imprimis’ alternative also contains pyrimethamine as well as leucovorin, which the company said helps to reverse pyrimethamine’s negative effects on bone marrow.

Until now, Turing was the sole source of a pyrimethamine-based drug, which is often prescribed to patients with compromised immune systems such as those suffering from AIDS and cancer.

The price increase of Daraprim, announced last month, sparked widespread outrage against the company and its founder and chief executive, Martin Shkreli. The move by Imprimis is in direct response to those events, and the company said it plans to produce more cheap alternative drugs. In the news release, the company announced the start of a new program called Imprimis Cares, which will ensure affordable versions of the 7,800 generic FDA-approved drugs.

Ars Technica

 

[KevanG]

That should be welcome news to a lot of people. I just wish it didn't take events like that ******* to bring them around.

 

[MessiahDecoy123]

But if the government did this it would be evil socialism.

 

[KevanG]

"Damn dirty Commies!"

"Hooray for the open market."

 

[PЯOVOSҬ]

If a competitor wants to offer a product of same/similiar type for less -

Capitalism in play.

 

[MessiahDecoy123]

But there is a reason prescription drugs are cheaper in Canada.

The free market has it's limits when it comes to saving sick people money.

 

[Teelie]

$750/pill pharma company reverses decision to lower drug price

The ******* lied. What a shock!

Turing Pharmaceuticals AG will not reverse its decision to raise the price of a decades-old drug, Daraprim, by more than 5,000 percent, backing out of previous statements that it would cut the cost by the end of the year.

In an announcement on Tuesday, the company said that the list price of Daraprim, which jumped from $13.50 a pill to $750 a pill earlier this year, will not change. Instead, the company will offer hospitals up to 50 percent discounts and will make other adjustments to help patients afford Daraprim, a drug used to treat a parasitic infection and often given to HIV patients.

"We pledge that no patient needing Daraprim will ever be denied access," Nancy Retzlaff, Turing's Chief Commercial Officer, said in a news release. She added that "drug pricing is one of the most complex parts of the healthcare industry. A drug's list price is not the primary factor in determining patient affordability and access.”

Earlier this month, the company said that it planned to modestly reduce prices amid intense backlash from the public and health experts over the initial price hike. However, at the time, the company and its CEO, Martin Shkreli, were mum about exactly how much the price would go down.

With the price standing, Turing will offer additional money-saving measures such as new, smaller bottles with only 30 tablets, helping to reduce the costs for hospitals to stock the medicine. The company will also offer zero cost starter samples and, for commercially insured patients, copayments of no more than $10 a prescription. For uninsured patients at or below 500 percent of the federal poverty level, the company will offer the drug for free.

In an e-mail to the New York Times, Tim Horn, H.I.V. project director for the AIDS research and policy organization Treatment Action Group, said: “This is, as the saying goes, nothing more than lipstick on a pig.”

Turing is currently under investigation by lawmakers over what some have referred to as price gouging.

Ars Technica