This week the world has reacted in utter shock to the news that the price of AIDS medication has sky rocketed by a colossal 5000%. Ex-hedge fund manager Martin Shkreli who in August bought the rights to the medication for $55million has raised the price to a staggering $750 per tablet, making him public enemy no. 1.
The drug Daraprim is used to treat toxoplasmosis an infection that attacks people with weak immune systems such as AIDS patients, babies and cancer patients. Over the past few decades the price of Daraprim has been gradually rising from $1 to $13.50 per tablet, but literally overnight Shkreli raised the price to $750. Rightfully so, Shkreli has faced much criticism into his heartless decision to cause such a price fluctuation in a drug that people’s lives are dependent on. How can he justify his greediness for profits?
Well apparently he can. Shkreli, the founder and CEO of Turing Pharmaceuticals, hit back on Twitter to put all his critics in place by quoting Eminem in his song “The Way I am.” The song exclaims that “all of this controversy circles me” and “the media immediately points a finger at me, so I point one back at ’em, but not the index or the pinky.” Wow that really showed us. Shkreli also mocked other Twitter users who were questioning his decision including reporter John Carroll who he labelled a “moron.”
He then went on to retweet Edwin Urrutia, Turing Pharmaceuticals co-founder, who commented that there was “an inordinate amount of pharmaceutical experts on Twitter today.” Funnily enough, Shkreli was named one of the worst biotech CEO’s out there because he was more concerned with twitter and publicity than research.
Shkreli then further tried to explain his reasoning behind the price increase by saying that the 62 year old drug needs a better version. The profits he makes on the drug will be invested into researching drug improvements and finding better treatments for toxoplasmosis, which have fewer side effects. Shkreli seems to have good sense behind his decision and anyway he is “really good at logic, difficult situations and tough choices” as he says on his now deleted OkCupid account. With estimations that a new drug will cost $1 billion to develop, Shkreli thinks it is only fair that they make a profit on the drug. Surely a profit can be made without having to cause such a huge price increase? Even so, can we trust Shkreli to use the profits effectively? In 2014 he was sued for $65 million for the misuse of company funds by a Biopharmaceutical company. Well that fills us with hope.
Today, Shkreli has again gone and made headlines by making a massive U-turn, saying that he will decrease the price of the drug due to the outcry towards the hike in price. It is however unknown by how much the decrease will be, but the drug will be “more affordable” and will allow the “company to make a profit, but a very small profit.”
References:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-34332693
http://www.tweaktown.com/news/47633/ceo-raises-aids-medication-price-4100-overnight/index.html
http://www.rt.com/usa/316243-ceo-aids-pill-price-backlash/