Potentially Life Saving Pill Goes From $13.50 to $750

[88m3]

Pharmaceutical Company CEO Defends 5,000% Price Hike of Drug on Twitter


By Olivia Becker

September 21, 2015 | 4:50 pm
The 32-year-old CEO and founder of a pharmaceutical startup took to Twitter to staunchly defend himself from a barrage of criticism after it was revealed that his company had raised the price of a common medication by 5,000 percent.

Immediately after Turing Pharmaceuticals acquired the rights to the drug Daraprim, a common anti-parasitic drug that is used to prevent malaria and fight infections like toxoplasmosis that can arise from AIDS and cancer, the company hiked the price up from $13.50 to $750 per pill. The company and its CEO Martin Shkreli quickly became the subject of a furious backlash.

Related: This Is How Drug Companies Jack Up Their Prices and Hurt Patients

Shkreli not only seemed unbothered by the outcry, he appears to be actively enjoying the attention online. Take his reply to one exchange in which he was asked how he manages to sleep at night:

In another response, Shkreli said it was not his fault if people who needed the drug could no longer afford it. He also quoted a lyric from the rapper Eminem about his feelings toward the media. He tweeted more than 125 responses to people calling him out online on Monday after the price increase gained traction over the weekend, noted Tech Crunch, but later deleted many of them.

Shkreli also defended his company's price hike on Bloomberg TV on Monday, insisting that his company "needed to turn a profit on the drug" despite the pill costing less than a dollar to manufacture.

"Its still underpriced compared to its peers," Shkreli added.

A former hedge-fund manager, Shkreli has come under scrutiny in the past for accusations that he attempted to illegally manipulate the prices of drugs made by companies whose stock he was shorting.

Pharmaceutical Company CEO Defends 5,000% Price Hike of Drug on Twitter | VICE News

 

[AJaRuleStan]

>Read a couple of post on the first page
>Keep seeing the Capitalism meme

Capitalism is responsible for scarcity now, kek. What reality do you nikkas live in? The company has a finite amount of money and they have to make trade-offs on how to efficiently use that money to pursue their own self-interests, and if the current demand for Daraphim doesn't warrant the current supply provided, as stated in the article, than it will get cut. If you want to live in nirvana or some world were trade-offs don't exist, slit your wrist, because at the moment, the after-life is your best chance at finding that world.

 

[NewWaveEra]

The CEO is just playing the game.

 

[88m3]

 

[JahFocus CS]

>Read a couple of post on the first page
>Keep seeing the Capitalism meme

Capitalism is responsible for scarcity now, kek. What reality do you nikkas live on? The company has finite amount of money and they have to make trade offs on how to efficiently use that money to pursue their self-interests, and if the current demand for Daraphim doesn't warrant the current supply provided, as stated in the article, than it will get cut. If you want to live in nirvana or some world were trade-offs don't exist, slit your wrist, because at the moment, the after-life is your best chance at finding that world.

If capitalism is unable to meet the needs of humanity, then it needs to go.

It is unable to meet the needs of the bulk of humanity.

It needs to go, regardless of whatever arguments you'd like to make on how the CEO needs to line his pockets more.

 

[☑︎#VoteDemocrat]

If capitalism is unable to meet the needs of humanity, then it needs to go.

It is unable to meet the needs of the bulk of humanity.

It needs to go, regardless of whatever arguments you'd like to make on how the CEO needs to line his pockets more.

Then you need to increase incentives for people to create alternatives...which is currently happening

Game; Capitalism

 

[Sensitive Blake Griffin]

>Read a couple of post on the first page
>Keep seeing the Capitalism meme

Capitalism is responsible for scarcity now, kek. What reality do you nikkas live on? The company has finite amount of money and they have to make trade offs on how to efficiently use that money to pursue their self-interests, and if the current demand for Daraphim doesn't warrant the current supply provided, as stated in the article, than it will get cut. If you want to live in nirvana or some world were trade-offs don't exist, slit your wrist, because at the moment, the after-life is your best chance at finding that world.

are you implying that his company would've failed if the price of each pill was only 50$? This dude is a fukking greedy sociopath there is no reason for this pill to be 700$. Stop trying to defend this a$$hole. Lets see how you change your tune when one of your family members needs this medication and is unable to afford it. This isn't about scarcity, this is about abusing patents that can save lives.

 

[wire28]

that put that pressure on him and made him fall back

edit:

CNBC reports that Shkreli is feeling the heat and will drop the price of the drug:


In a phone call with NBC News, Turing’s Martin Shkreli said he will cut the cost of treatment in response to the public outcry, but did not specify by how much…

Spoiler

The decision sparked controversy and a response from Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, who outlined a plan to combat rising drug prices on Tuesday.

The price will drop to a level where Turing will break even or make a “small profit,”
Shkreli told NBC. He previously defended the decision to raise the price by saying no patients would lose access to the drug and that Turing would put the extra cash toward research for a more effective treatment.

 

[PikaDaDon]

 

[AJaRuleStan]

are you implying that his company would've failed if the price of each pill was only 50$? This dude is a fukking greedy sociopath there is no reason for this pill to be 700$. Stop trying to defend this a$$hole. Lets see how you change your tune when one of your family members needs this medication and is unable to afford it. This isn't about scarcity, this is about abusing patents that can save lives.

I'm telling you what the company said in the article, which is that a change in circumstance is preventing them from selling one of their product at it's previous price. They make it clear that they have other projects that are now demanding more of their limited resources. This means they have to re-allocate for efficiency. You may not want to believe this is true, but who are you? What information do you have to claim otherwise? Artificial setting the price high would just allow a competitor to steal sales away by selling the item closer to it's demanded price, and I'm pretty sure who ever is financing for that company is aware of that, since it's a basic rule of a market economy. Wait, did you think that sellers can just set any price without risk, kek.

 

[Sensitive Blake Griffin]

I'm telling you what the company said in the article, which is that a change in circumstance is preventing them from selling one of their product at it's previous price. They make it clear that they have other projects that are now demanding more of their limited resources. This means they have to re-allocate for efficiency. You may not want to believe this is true, but who are you? What information do you have to claim otherwise? Artificial setting the price high would just allow a competitor to steal sales away by selling the item closer to it's demanded price, and I'm pretty sure who ever is financing for that company is aware of that, since it's a basic rule of a market economy. Wait, did you think that sellers can just set any price without risk, kek.

a competitor can't sell the product, because patents. Why do you keep saying kek you orcish fakkit

 

[AJaRuleStan]

a competitor can't sell the product, because patents. Why do you keep saying kek you orcish fakkit

I missed that part, but still, a 60 year old drug with no generics being made yet? Well that tells you all you need to know about the demand for the drug.

 

[Sensitive Blake Griffin]

I missed that part, but still, a 60 year old drug with no generics being made yet? Well that tells you all you need to know about the demand for the drug.

It's not about demand, it's about people needing this drug to continue living. If your brother/cousin/aunt/mom/sister/father/friend/relative needed this drug to survive would you just hit them with a and berate them with your spiel about how the company has to price this drug at an outrageous price? There is no humanity in capitalism especially when it comes to the pharmaceutical industry. The guy who created the polio vaccine could've charged 10,000$ per vaccination but he gave it away for free to the entire world. If the drug is patented you can't make generic versions, KEK

 

[FaTaL]

i thought patents for drugs only lasted like 20 years then the generics hit the market?




and dont ever get bit by a rattlesnake the cure is like 5 grand a bottle

 

[☑︎#VoteDemocrat]

a competitor can't sell the product, because patents. Why do you keep saying kek you orcish fakkit

Its not a patent issue. Theres no patent since it expired. Its that the cost of creating a direct competitor costs too much and would require FDA approval which is even more expensive.