“We believe we now have a safe, high-quality and extremely cost-effective way to provide access to a Daraprim alternative”, Chief Medical Officer Dr. Steve Miller said in a statement from the company.
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Patients mostly those with AIDS can heave a sigh of relief on the new drug especially on seeing the price of Daraprim soar from $13.50 a pill to $750.
However, a $1 rival to the drug has this week been launched – undercutting Turing’s offering by $749 per tablet. Giant pharmacy benefits manager Express Scripts announced this week that it would provide its customers with a low-priced alternative to Daraprim, a once-affordable drug that had been sharply marked up by its makers in recent months. This disease is a parasitic infection that is fatal for people with AIDS and for infants.
During the 25-minute interview, Shkreli explained the price-hike-regret: “I could have raised it higher and made more profits for our shareholders, which is my primary duty”.
“We have a company called UBC, and they were doing the patient assistance program for the prior owner of Daraprim”. I can’t imagine many self-paying patients (or insurance companies) who would prefer to pay $750 per pill instead of the previous $13.50.
This specific solution is the first of its kind, and it was predicated on several factors that are unique to the Daraprim situation, according to Luddy.
And not just Daraprim, but other expensive medications.
Mass-produced drugs must be approved by the Food and Drug Administration. The companies expect that prescriptions for the pyrimethamine and leucovorin from Imprimis will be processed starting as early as this week for Express Scripts patients who need the treatment.
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Express Scripts, which manages prescription drug benefits for about 85 million people, has always been a vocal critic of rising drug prices. Now that Imprimis has tied up with Express Scripts, doctors will be able to write prescriptions specifically for Imprimis’ pill, and patients can get their prescriptions fulfilled for the drug. That exclusive deal brought Express Scripts a huge price discount.
