Martin Shkreli, former Wall Street hedge fund manager and CEO of Turing Pharmaceuticals, rose to an impressively new level of despicable after purchasing the drug Daraprim and raising the cost per tablet from $13.50 to $750.
Upon receiving immediate and punitive criticism, Shkreli defended his actions, stating that the decision was made in order to stay in business and turn a profit on the drug, which has been in circulation for 62 years. While the cost of production for each tablet is below $1, Shkreli maintains that distribution and patient relations costs will hike up the price, and that other profits from the new price will fund future research programs. This is a move that he’s also pulled in the past – as CEO of Retrophin, he raised the price of Thiola, a drug used to treat kidney disease in children, from $1.50 to $30 per pill.
Shkreli has been slammed by medical associations, journalists, as well as politicians for the price hike. Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton has responded by proposing a plan in order to prevent rapid increases in drug prices, while Republican candidate Donald Trump has stated that Shkreli “looks like a spoiled brat,” and that “He’s zero. He’s nothing,” condemning his actions as being “a disgrace”. Collect Records, a music label for which he is an investor, has also cut ties with the CEO.
Used to treat toxoplasmosis, a parasitic disease caused by infection with the protozoan Toxoplasma gondii, the drug Duraprim is most often used by very young children and persons who are immunocompromised and therefore susceptible to infection, most notably those who suffer from HIV/AIDS. Capable of infecting most warm-blooded animals, 23% of Americans and up to half the world’s population is infected with it. It can be transferred through improperly cooked food, contact with infected cat excrement, and during childbirth from mother to child. Though it is nearly asymptomatic in healthy adults, it typically causes flu-like symptoms, confusion, and headaches, though severe infections can cause serious brain and eye damage, which can be life-threatening.
Along with the price increase, the tablets are now only available to patients at Walgreens Pharmacies, and healthcare facilities can no longer obtain them from the general wholesaler, but instead must go through a Daraprim Direct program. This is to prevent reproduction by generic drug companies. This is greatly contrasted with other countries, who are generally unaffected by the price hike in the US, where prices for each tablet can be as low as a few cents. The UK, for example, uses a different drug buying and production scheme where prices are negotiated between the government and manufacturers in order to balance profiting and patient benefit. Sudden increases in price cannot occur as they do in the US, where private companies can also serve to buy and distribute drugs.
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