It comes a day after label owner – and No Devotion frontman – Geoff Rickly said he feared for the future of his business after Shkreli hit the headlines worldwide for raising the price of the drug Daraprim by 5000% from $13.50 (£8.79) to $750 (£488) a pill.
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That move was met by accusations of price gouging, and Rodelis agreed to return the drug to Purdue Research Foundation, which oversees the non-profit that manufactures the drug.
Turing Pharmaceuticals of New York bought the drug from Impax Laboratories in August for $55 million and raised the price.
After less than a week of unfavorable attention from the mainstream and social media, Turing CEO Martin Shkreli announced on September 22 that he would lower the price of the drug. It’s the only approved treatment for a rare parasitic infection called toxoplasmosis that mainly strikes pregnant women, cancer patients and AIDS patients.
Shkreli said on Twitter Tuesday afternoon that he planned to “set the record straight on misconceptions and announce some adjustments to our plan”.
Presidential candidates and political leaders have also expressed disagreement over the price hike. A Turing spokesman said the company is committed to “a serious price adjustment”, but hasn’t decided how much or set a timetable. The powerful pharmaceutical lobby has repeatedly fended off proposals that would cut into profits, from setting up price controls to allowing Medicare to negotiate discounts on drugs it buys for beneficiaries.
It is of course hard to speculate as to the near-future trends of pharmaceutical drug prices and whether or not they will continue to rise at exponential rates. Bernstein analyst Ronny Gal pointed out many companies ratchet up drug prices when the market presents an opportunity. That happens when several companies make the same generic drug or similar brand-name drugs.
The Human Rights Campaign was among the critics of the increase.
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Although many doctors have come out saying that there is very little drug resistance issues with toxoplasmosis and that a new drug is not needed. Other companies have used the same strategy. “It is the worst kind of capitalization on the needs of the sick”.
