There’s no reduction for the list price of Daraprim after all.
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The problem with his request is that he was publicly short-selling both stocks at the same time (and both companies saw their stock prices fall in the wake of his requests).
The company will also distribute “sample starter packages at zero cost to ensure physicians treating patients in the community have free and immediate access to start therapy in emergency situations”, it said in a statement. Core Pharma, which bought the drug in 2011, raised the price to $13.50 per pill, which cut the number of people taking it by almost a third, but raised revenue to $9.9 million. The company also has existing programs to lower patients’ co-pays for the drug to less than $10.
Daraprim is not the only drug available to treat toxoplasmosis and the CDC has a list of the different drugs that can be used to treat the disease.
However, the list price, which affects how much the pills cost at a pharmacy, will not change. “By providing affordable access for hospitals and reaffirming our commitment that almost all patients will receive Daraprim for $10 or less out-of-pocket per prescription, that’s what we have done”.
Turing Pharmaceuticals, the company which has attracted a storm of criticism over its decision to drastically raise the price of a life-saving AIDS drug, now says it plans to cut prices by half.
The company said it also would continue to participate in federal and state programs such as Medicaid and the Section 340B discount program that offers the drug at $1 per pill for a 100-pill bottle.
Daraprim itself is eligible for generic competition – it was invented decades ago and was previously sold by GlaxoSmithKline Plc for about $1 a pill.
“We pledge that no patient needing Daraprim will ever be denied access”, said Nancy Retzlaff, Turing’s chief commercial officer, in a statement.
Imprimis Pharmaceuticals Inc., which mixes approved drug ingredients to fill individual patient prescriptions, said last month that it will supply capsules containing Daraprim’s active ingredients, pyrimethamine and leucovorin, at $99 for a 100-capsule bottle. And Turing said it was contributing to a charity that could help Medicare patients afford their out-of-pocket costs.
It will provide Daraprim free-of-charge to uninsured, qualified patients with demonstrated income at or below 500 percent of the federal poverty level through its Patient Assistance Program. And the Senate Special Committee on Aging is looking into “dramatic increases” in prices from companies such as Turing and Valeant ($VRX) that seem “like little more than price-gouging”, it said earlier this month.
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The hike took the cost of Daraprim from about $13 per tablet to $750 per tablet – a 5,000 percent increase.
