Meet the dick who just made an AIDS drug much more expensive

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September 23, 2015 | Sex & Society

Meet the dick who just made an AIDS drug much more expensive

His name is Martin Shkreli, and he just took a drug that would normally cost $13.50 per tablet and turned it into a drug that costs $750 per tablet. That's more than a 5000 percent increase.

The drug, called Daraprim, has been around for 62 years and is used to treat a life-threatening parasitic infection. It is widely used by AIDS patients.

Shkreli's company, Turing Pharmaceuticals, acquired the marketing rights to the drug in August. News of the planned price hike only recently got out.

The Infectious Diseases Society of America and the HIV Medicine Association sent a joint letter to Turing calling the price increase for Daraprim “unjustifiable for the medically vulnerable patient population” and “unsustainable for the health care system.”

“This isn’t the greedy drug company trying to gouge patients, it is us trying to stay in business,” Shkreli countered. He argued he was bringing the price in line with other drugs that treat rare diseases, and that those who use Daraprim only require it for less than a year so the cost is not a lifelong burden.

“This is still one of the smallest pharmaceutical products in the world,” he said. “It really doesn’t make sense to get any criticism for this.”

The former hedge fund manager added that additional money is needed for the company to create even better, and more affordable, drugs in the future.

Hillary Clinton was one of many people calling the increase a joke.

"Price gouging like this in the specialty drug market is outrageous. Tomorrow I'll lay out a plan to take it on. -H,' she tweeted.

This isn't Shkreli's first bio-med company. In 2011, Mr. Shkreli started Retrophin, which acquired old neglected drugs and raised their prices. Retrophin’s board fired Shkreli a year ago. Last month, it filed a complaint in Federal District Court in Manhattan, accusing him of using Retrophin as a personal piggy bank to pay back angry investors in his hedge fund.

Why are some people just so nasty (and not in a Janet Jackson kind of way)?

Martin Shkreli again defends massive price hike for AIDS drug ... [Mail Online]

Former hedge fund manager buys AIDS drug, makes it 5500 percent more expensive [9 News]

September 23, 2015 | Sex & Society

Meet the dick who just made an AIDS drug much more expensive

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