When the news broke that Turing Pharmaceuticals, a small drug company, was going to hike the price of an old drug by more than 5,000%, the outrage was immediate and virtually universal.
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Turing Pharmaceuticals CEO Martin Shkreli told ABC News that the new price would make Daraprim more accessible.
The drug, called Daraprim, is used to help patients with weakened immune systems like those with AIDS or cancer.
After news of the price hike came to light Shkreli had been defiant.
Martin Shkreli, the CEO of Turing Pharmaceuticals, said the price increase was necessary to develop a different drug with less severe side effects.
“Clinton outlined a plan that would reform the way drug companies do business, particularly by stopping them from spending government grants on advertising and by allowing Medicare – and the US government – to negotiate down prescription drug costs….”
“It is absolutely a reaction”, Shkreli said Tuesday of his decision to stop the price spike.
But the price increase sparked outrage from medical groups representing doctors who treat patients with HIV and other infectious diseases. But patient advocates, national media outlets, and even presidential hopefuls launched a vicious attack against Turing-prompting the company to change course on the drug’s price.
“I think in the society we live in today it’s easy to want to villainize people, and obviously we’re in an election cycle where this is very, very tough topic for people and it’s very sensitive”.
“First of all, I don’t see any justification”, said East Rock Pharmacy Pharmacist Kawa Chan. Earlier in the week, he made his Twitter feed private. She added that drug companies keep the profits with themselves and “shift the cost to families”.
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Shkreli initially defended the price increase, saying the money raised from it would be put into research and development to find a less toxic and more effective treatment for toxoplasmosis. That might also be the reason behind Tuesday’s move to drop the price of Daraprim.
