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Specialists in infectious disease are protesting a gigantic overnight increase in the price of a 62-year-old drug that is the standard of care for treating a life-threatening parasitic infection.
The drug, called Daraprim, was acquired in August by Turing Pharmaceuticals, a start-up run by a former hedge fund manager. Turing immediately raised the price to $750 a tablet from $13.50, bringing the annual cost of treatment for some patients to hundreds of thousands of dollars.
"What is it that they are doing differently that has led to this dramatic increase?" said Dr. Judith Aberg, the chief of the division of infectious diseases at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. She said the price increase could force hospitals to use "alternative therapies that may not have the same efficacy."
Turing's price increase is not an isolated example. While most of the attention on pharmaceutical prices has been on new drugs for diseases like cancer, hepatitis C and high cholesterol, there is also growing concern about huge price increases on older drugs, some of them generic, that have long been mainstays of treatment.
Cycloserine, a drug used to treat dangerous multidrug-resistant tuberculosis, was just increased in price to $10,800 for 30 pills from $500 after its acquisition by Rodelis Therapeutics. Scott Spencer, general manager of Rodelis, said the company needed to invest to make sure the supply of the drug remained reliable.
In August, two members of Congress investigating generic drug price increases wrote to Valeant Pharmaceuticals after that company acquired two heart drugs, Isuprel and Nitropress, from Marathon Pharmaceuticals and promptly raised their prices by 525 percent and 212 percent respectively.
Martin Shkreli, the founder and chief executive of Turing, said that the drug is so rarely used that the impact on the health system would be minuscule and that Turing would use the money it earns to develop better treatments for toxoplasmosis, with fewer side effects.
originally posted by: Iamthatbish
I was under the impression when I read this that these are generic that have alternatives or patents have long since expired. That made me think this was playing off the stupidity of insurance and their formularies.
If it's a parasitic fighting drug it means that people who most likely will get infected aren't going to be rich snobby people.
originally posted by: greencmp
a reply to: infolurker
Patents and copyrights provide the circumstances necessary to allow monopoly prices.
Except for physical material monopolies such as diamond mines, it couldn't be done without the indispensable tool of state enforcement.
Bad company, even worse economic interventionist "law".
originally posted by: DAVID64
a reply to: strongfp
If it's a parasitic fighting drug it means that people who most likely will get infected aren't going to be rich snobby people.
If this is shipped out to 3rd world countries as aid, Uncle Sam foots the bill and that may be what these companies are counting on. Most American insurance companies are not going to shell out that much and the average Joe sure as hell ain't got that kind of money, so Drs will just find some way around it.
More proof they could care less if we live or die, as long as they make a profit.