Outcry Follows Massive Drug-price Hike
Turing Pharmaceuticals CEO Martin Shkreli “became the symbol for price gouging” this week after his company abruptly raised the price of a 62-year-old drug from $13.50 a pill to $750, said Andrew Pollack and Julie Creswell in The New York Times. In August, Turing purchased the rights to Daraprim, which treats a parasitic infection called toxoplasmosis that can be life- hreatening to babies and people with AIDS, and immediately hiked the price by 5,500 percent. After drawing fire on social media, Shkreli, a 32-year-old former hedge fund manager, lashed out at critics before ultimately agreeing to lower the price, without providing details.
This giant increase could really only happen in America, said Sarah Kliff in Vox.com. “We are the only developed nation that lets drugmakers set their own prices,” regardless of patient need or production costs. And in the case of drugs for seniors, the law bars Medicare from even trying to negotiate for discounts. As a result, plenty of pharmaceutical companies are willing to “trade a few months of bad press for blockbuster returns.” Shkreli’s massive hike might be infuriating, but “he’s taking advantage of a system that allows drugmakers to name their price.”
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