Martin Shkreli, 32, founder and chief executive of Turing
Pharmaceuticals who was a former hedge fund manager, purchased the
rights to Daraprim - a drug which is used to treat life-threatening parasitic
infections - in August for $55million. Shortly thereafter, the price of the
drug, which costs roughly $1 to produce, was increased to $750 per
tablet. The drug cost only $13.50 per tablet and you needed only 100
tablets to treat yourself and be well.
Shkreli told Bloomberg that he hiked up the price of
the pill because Turing Pharmaceuticals 'needed to turn a profit on the drug',
needed to upgrade , had manufacturing, distribution, FDA and had to pay its
workers well to make sure that the drugs were made to specification. Which
people thought was bogus because the previous company met all the requirements
he mentioned and were still able to sell it for $13.50 per tablet.
'This isn't the greedy drug company trying to gouge
patients, it is us trying to stay in business,' Shkreli said.
He added that many patients use the drug for less than a
year and that the price is on par with drugs similar that are used to treat
rare diseases.
Since the announcement, people across social media have
criticized the price increase, including US Presidential aspirant, Hilary Clinton,
but Shkreli has backed the decision. He had an OK Cupid account which he has
since deleted.
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