Life-Saving Drug Price Increased by 5,000%

[Grandea GTR]

Good lord, talk about greed.


http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/09/21/martin-shkreli-is-big-pharma-s-biggest-asshole.html

Thanks to Martin Shkreli, life-saving drug Daraprim will now cost $750 per pill—up from $13.50. And no one, not even the FDA, can stop him.

http://www.healio.com/infectious-disease/hiv-aids/news/online/{745d9cc5-df37-4139-b1ac-6dde7b8ae463}/daraprim-price-jump-raises-concerns-among-id-groups-providers

Since its acquisition, the price of pyrimethamine has increased from $13.50 per tablet to $750 per tablet, according to IDSA and HIVMA. In an open letter to Turing, the organizations urged the pharmaceutical company to revise its pricing strategy for the generic medication.

“Under the current pricing structure, it is estimated that the annual cost of treatment for toxoplasmosis, for the pyrimethamine component alone, will be $336,000 for patients who weigh less than 60 kg and $634,500 for patients who weigh more than 60 kg,” they wrote. “This cost is unjustifiable for the medically vulnerable patient population in need of this medication and unsustainable for the health care system.”

 

[DK]

An apologist for this will arrive shortly.

Martin Shkreli is a psychopath and a bully, plain and simple.

 

[Danoff]

What's the problem?

 

[Carbonox]

Who else here thinks that was done precisely for the sake of internet backlash?

 

[Grandea GTR]

Who else here thinks that was done precisely for the sake of internet backlash?

I would figure so.

 

[Grayfox]

They said they want to make a profit from the drug but how can you make a profit if it is too expensive for people to buy?
I am no business man but I know you make a profit by selling something that people need at a price they can afford.
Going from $13.50 a pill to $15 would have yielded profit albeit at a long term.

 

[Sanji Himura]

The company is right. If there is a serious push for "Single Payer" health care (as pushed by Bernie Sanders among others), the price for those procedures are going to be at the whim of the Government who pays for all of that with our tax dollars. Considering that Medicare is going right down the tubes in favor of this system, this move is an indictment on our government at large for regulations that they enforce thanks to Obamacare.

It is like college in a lot of ways. They jack up tuition prices because they know that there will be grants and scholarships available to help cover the cost. The increase of those funds simply indicates (to the University) that there is more money to be made per student.

 

[Liquid]

I can't find the link right now* but I did read some online analysis of this earlier and it said that while this is a hedge fund circle jerk to jack the price up, there are tablets already on the market for even less than the $13.50 this one used to retail for. Better tablets which treat the particular condition more effectively

If there are better alternatives retailing much cheaper anyway, people won't necessarily be better off. Also, this isn't a "HIV drug" this is a particular type of severe food poisoning drug which might happen to affect you more if your immune system is compromised. Another oversensationalised clickbait headline and I'm no stranger for falling for one of those these days (piggate).

So... without jumping on the bandwagon, can we take a rational look at this? I'm well on board with crucifying hedge fund :censored:s but in due course with just cause.

*I'll post it as soon as I find it

 

[Grandea GTR]

Also, this isn't a "HIV drug" this is a particular type of severe food poisoning drug which might happen to affect you more if your immune system is compromised.

I just checked on the drug, and it said it was generally used for malaria, but also used to treat toxoplasma gonii, which can be present within HIV-positive patients.

 

[Joel]

The other thing to keep in mind is that nobody pays sticker price for health care in the US. An insurance company would laugh in this guy's face if he thinks they're paying 7k.

 

[Joey D]

Companies have a right to charge what they want, but the public should never support that kind of greed from a company especially when there's alternatives. Also, when it comes to medications, I feel that it's unethical to charge an obscene amount of money for a drug. I get you need to make a profit, but at the same time generating a huge profit at the expense of other's suffering makes you look like a douche-canoe.

Actually I don't think this guy even needed to do anything like this to be a huge d-bag, he has one of the most punchable faces I've ever seen.

What a schmuck.

 

[JKgo]

...This drives me nuts. Read this news yesterday on BBC and the more info I find, more peeved I get. This guy's a twit. Can't even bother to type his name down.

 

[Tornado]

Actually I don't think this guy even needed to do anything like this to be a huge d-bag, he has one of the most punchable faces I've ever seen.

What a schmuck.

Later that day:

 

[High-Test]

Every time I see his face I want to punch the computer.

 

[Grandea GTR]

Huh. What do you know.

http://www.cnbc.com/2015/09/22/oll-back-pricing-for-daraprim-amid-controversy.html

 

[TenEightyOne]

If it's a generic then presumably there are other suppliers? Otherwise I can't see why it would make good business-sense to jack the price so high if competitors haven't done so?

 

[Liquid]

I can't find the link right now* but I did read some online analysis of this earlier and it said that while this is a hedge fund circle jerk to jack the price up, there are tablets already on the market for even less than the $13.50 this one used to retail for.

Found it

Snippets for the idle:

Pyrimethamine is frequently used in AIDS patients whose suppressed immune systems allow frequent parasitic infections like toxoplasmosis. As opposed to the AddictingInfo headline, stating that pyrimethamine is a “60 year old cancer drug,” there is no evidence that it was ever a “cancer drug.” It may have been used as such 60 years ago, but today it is not.

Just prior to the sale of the drug, Impax changed the distribution system of the drug from the typical wholesale distribution system to a smaller, and more tightly controlled, specialty drug distribution network. After the transfer of rights to Turing, the price was immediately raised from $13.50 a tablet to $750, a 5500% price increase.

Furthermore, Mr. Shkreli has been accused of urging the Food and Drug Administration not to approve certain drugs made by companies whose stock he was shorting. Shorting stock is the process of betting that a stock price will drop, so urging the FDA to not approve a drug in one of those companies would cause it’s price to drop.

The 5500% increase in price is accurate. Moreover, Turing (or Impax) has made sure that Daraprim is now distributed through a single specialty distributor, which limits its supply and supports the high prices. This appears to be a solid fact.

Furthermore, and this is critically important, Turing has agreed to participate in the US 340B Drug Discount Program.
[...]
This law requires pharmaceutical manufacturers participating in the Medicaid program to enter into a second agreement with the Secretary of Health and Human Services — called a pharmaceutical pricing agreement (PPA) — under which the manufacturer agrees to provide statutorily specified discounts on “covered outpatient drugs” purchased by government-supported facilities, known as covered entities, that are expected to serve the nation’s most vulnerable patient populations.
[...]
The burden of these higher prices would be on wealthier Americans covered by platinum level health insurance. Not a perfect scenario, but far from the imagery of the screaming headlines of “5500% price increases..oh my!!!!!”

There are better drugs out there for toxoplasmosis. Several antibiotics, including clindamycin, spiramycin, minocycline, and atovaquone, are prescribed, and many actually destroy the parasitic cyst which can shield the organism from most drugs.

Furthermore, most of these products are actually less expensive than pyrimethamine. Clindamycin ranges in price from $0.50 to slightly over $3.00 per tablet, depending on dosage. In other words, replacement drugs may actually be a better choice for pricing and clinical utility.

Yeah, this guy might be a hedge fund 🤬 with the most punchable face this side of Piers Morgan but this particular story isn't as horrendous as it has been made out to be.

 

[CAMAROBOY69]

Actually I don't think this guy even needed to do anything like this to be a huge d-bag, he has one of the most punchable faces I've ever seen.

What a schmuck.

It just seems like a marketing scam to highball his product. Basically charge an insane amount, then after everyone reacts, lower it to what seems to be a much better offer. Still making a huge profit. Sales rep logic 101.

 

[FoolKiller]

To begin with, these prices sound like the rates that are often quoted to insurance so that the coverage agreement will then be lower. Drug companies over-quote drug prices to insurance companies so they can still make money after the negotiated rate. Wholesale prices are much cheaper. The Atlas.md clinic orders drugs wholesale and buys $30 a pill drugs so cheap that they just give them to their patients out of their in-house pharmacy. The drug markup in the insurance/medicare/medicaid model is ridiculous. If consumers were allowed business-to-consumer purchasing power it would be significantly cheaper, but the government won't allow that.

It would be interesting to see what the price of this drug would be if it were bought at wholesale prices.



The conspiracy theorist in me wants to believe this guy might be in cahoots with Sanders or some other politicians in general and did this to give an example for government to create reactionary regulation in order to implement either more healthcare rules or create more regulatory hurdles to prevent small drug companies and generic companies from getting into the business. Whatever happens from here, this guy will profit from this, even when he is being punished.

 

[A2K78]

Good lord, talk about greed.

Instead of blaming greed why not put the blame where it really belongs e.g. our stupid government managed healthcare system?

 

[Grandea GTR]

Instead of blaming greed why not put the blame where it really belongs e.g. our stupid government managed healthcare system?

 

[Dennisch]

I think Martin will stick around for a while.

 

[Grandea GTR]

I think Martin will stick around for a while.

Did he seriously become a meme?

 

[Draggon]

Instead of blaming greed why not put the blame where it really belongs e.g. our stupid government managed healthcare system?

Details are too complicated to get into here, but I've had health issues for 18 years now. Prescription prices could sometimes increase year to year a maximum of 10%. Since the un-affordable care act I see 50% to 100% routinely, and a 1000% increase is not unheard of. I don't care who you are, there is no way a commonly prescribed med that cost $7 a month in 2008 can cost $100 a month in 2015.

 

[FoolKiller]

I don't care who you are, there is no way a commonly prescribed med that cost $7 a month in 2008 can cost $100 a month in 2015.

I can think of a few legitimate reasons, but none of them apply here.

No, this is something he can only get away with due to the setup of our insurance industry. Ultimately, I doubt this will be a price paid by consumers, due to insurance negotiations, and because this is not the only drug in this category, nor is it the most commonly prescribed drug for these treatments. The demand for this drug is so low that no generics are made because it isn't cost-effective. I can see some small startup generic pharmaceutical making this if the price doesn't come back down. Due to their sole distributor status this will require overseas purchases for research studies, but it can be done.

 

[ukfan758]

There should be a law where the government gets to control the price of medication and take over medicine producing companies so that crap like this doesn't happen.

 

[prisonermonkeys]

There should be a law where the government gets to control the price of medication and take over medicine producing companies so that crap like this doesn't happen.

SOCIALIST! That's UN-AMERICAN! Who is the government to decide what the price of medication should be? If you can't afford the cost of the life-saving medicine you need to meet the basic quality of life that anyone should reasonably expect, then you should have thought twice about getting sick, or better yet, about being poor! I mean, did you even stop to think about what such a policy would do to the likes of Martin Shkreli? He worked really, really hard to get to the point where he could so blatantly take advantage of people, but you just want to undo all of that for your own selfish needs. Socialist! Communist! Bolshevist! Fascist!

 

[Tornado]

There should be a

 

[FoolKiller]

There should be a law where the government gets to control the price of medication and take over medicine producing companies so that crap like this doesn't happen.

OR, government could quit being total jerks about drug importation and relax their rules and then American citizens could gain access to drugs from all over the world and this guy would suddenly find himself in a price war with the planet.

The problem here is caused by the government. It's like taking poison a second time, hoping it will act as an antidote to the first time.


I should also note that I work for our state government in Public Health and you do not want these guys in control of any kind of financial decisions that can affect your health. None of the decisions made within these walls are based on how to help people, but what will get the most votes.

 

[Sanji Himura]

Furthermore, Mr. Shkreli has been accused of urging the Food and Drug Administration not to approve certain drugs made by companies whose stock he was shorting. Shorting stock is the process of betting that a stock price will drop, so urging the FDA to not approve a drug in one of those companies would cause it’s price to drop.

That is plain illegal. Why hasn't the Financial Industry Regulatory Agency or the Securities and Exchange Commission started an investigation on this clown? Urging the FDA to not approve competitor's drugs that you are competing with is market manipulation plain and simple.

OR, government could quit being total jerks about drug importation and relax their rules and then American citizens could gain access to drugs from all over the world and this guy would suddenly find himself in a price war with the planet.

I would like to add one caveat. Relax their rules about drugs that are previously approved by the FDA. I agree that most places on Earth do have tighter drug regulations than we do as far as manufacture procedures go, so letting us buy drugs from, let's say, Canada for example, would allow the price of medication to go down ultimately in the end. This 5500% increase wouldn't have happened if this were the case.