When I sat down to write my Tuesday blog entry today, I had every intention of writing about something else, but when I saw the article about the teensy pharmaceutical company that bought the patent on a unique drug and overnight hiked the price more than 5,000% from $13.50 per pill to $750, I couldn’t stop my fingers from typing this diatribe.
This kind of unbridled greed sticks in my craw, as I am sure it does fro many of you.
And folks, this proves it’s not just Big Pharma. It’s Little Pharma, too. The company in question, Turing Pharmaceuticals, has a Manhattan address and appears to market only two drugs, one for high blood pressure and its newest acquisition, daraprim, (generic pyrimethamine), a drug approved by the FDA in 1953 to treat parasitic infections in people with compromised immune systems.
This kind of unparalleled greed targets the most vulnerable among us. Turing’s CEO Martin Shkreli has overnight become the Quasimodo of social media, a well-deserved moniker.
Shkreli claims he raised the price of this necessary drug to the stratosphere so he could perform “more research” on it. But infectious disease experts say there is no need for more research, that the drug is perfectly fine as it is and there is no need for further research.
Shkreli told Newsweek, “Profits are a great thing.” He boasted that it costs less than $1 a pill to manufacture Daraprim, and asked why his company shouldn’t make bigger profits on the drug.
Patients who need daraprim (the only product available to treat this infection in the U.S.) include those with compromised immune systems, primarily people with HIV and AIDS, plus pregnant women, in whom the toxoplasmosis parasite can cause birth defects.
While cats can be a source of toxoplasmosis, this is rare. Most infections in humans come from eating raw or undercooked meat and/or unwashed fruits and vegetables. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that 22.5% of the U.S. populations has been infected and calls toxoplasmosis “the leading cause of death attributed to foodborne illness” in the U.S.
Treatment isn’t necessary for most healthy people who contract toxoplasmosis, except those with compromised immune systems and pregnant women. In their cases, infection can be life threatening.
What’s more, daraprim is no longer available through community pharmacies. Patients who need it can only get it through Walgreen’s Specialty Pharmacy and institutions can only get it by setting up a direct account with Truing. What a brilliant strategy: Eliminate the middle man and keep all the profits for yourself, Mr. Shkreli!
Its even more shameless when we learn that pyrimethamine is available in India, where as much as 95% of the population may be infected, for 5-10 cents a dose!
Follow the money my friends. Who is profiting? Clearly Turing Pharmaceuticals is making out like a bandit. Let’s bring in Walgreen’s Specialty Pharmacy. The FDA certainly has a role here, yet the regulatory body has been silent on the matter. We’ve know for a long time that Big Pharma has undue influence at the FDA. It now appears that Little Pharma does, too.
Turing is not alone. This kind of highway robbery has taken place several times recently with pharmaceutical companies’ acquisition of rights to manufacture specific drugs. A company called Valent raised the price of a heart drug more than 500% on the day is acquired the rights to it.
Call to action
Please don’t support this kind of greed. Turing has only one other drug on the market. Vecamyl is a blood pressure medication, most commonly used today for research purposes and sometimes to aid people to stop smoking. If you are on Vecamyl, ask your doctor for an alternative.
