(c) thedailybeast.com
Martin Shkreli
This past September, I remember watching the news about a very young American CEO whose company, Turing Pharmaceuticals, had acquired the U.S. rights for marketing the 62 year old drug, (Pyrimethamine) Daraprim. We were completely flabbergasted at what we had just seen and heard: Mr. Martin Shkreli had declared that he was going to increase the cost of a single Daraprim pill From $13.50 to $750.00. To those of us in Nigeria, that would be N149,287.00 for one pill.
I had flashbacks ... we had just returned from the United Kingdom and were getting accustomed to mosquitoes, as a precaution Daddy dutifully gave us Daraprim every Sunday after breakfast. Flashfoward to September 2015, NBC Nightly News' Lester Holt, schooled me on the fact that this very same antimalarial pill (when combined with sulfonamide antibiotic sulfadiazine) is used to treat individuals with Toxoplasma gondii infections, that is, those who have been diagnosed HIV positive.
Just FYI, 30 Daraprim pills in the UK cost U.S.$20 and as of September 2015, Daraprim imported from the UK via Glaxo Smith & Kline costs less than U.S.$7 per pill. The same Daraprim is also available in Brazil at U.S.$0.02 per pill.
Just FYI, 30 Daraprim pills in the UK cost U.S.$20 and as of September 2015, Daraprim imported from the UK via Glaxo Smith & Kline costs less than U.S.$7 per pill. The same Daraprim is also available in Brazil at U.S.$0.02 per pill.
One understands that 32 year old Mr. Shkreli is a CEO/Entrepreneur/Hedge Fund Manager who specializes in the healthcare business. He is the sole founder of Turing Pharmaceuticals and co-founder of MSMB Capital Management. As a consequence of this young man's actions, Daraprim is now a single-source specialty pharmacy item - a person on a 75mg dose will pay $75,000.00 per month. Incredibly, Mr. Shkreli defended the price hike with a simple analogy - "If there was a company that was selling an Aston Martin at the price of a bicycle, and we buy that company and we ask to charge Toyota prices, I don't think that should be a crime."
At yesterday's Healthcare Summit hosted by Forbes, when asked if he would do things differently he simply replied: "I probably would have raised the price higher, is probably what I should have done. I could have raised it higher and made more profits for our shareholders, Which is my primary duty ... No one wants to say it, no one is proud of it but this is a capitalist society, capitalist system and capitalist rules, and my investors expect me to maximize profits, not to minimize them, or go half, or go 70%, but to go 100% of the profit curve that we're all taught in MBA."
Shkreli has emphasized that the price of Daraprim will not change but he will offer hospitals a 50% discount. The price hike has been criticized by many Physician Groups and Organisations. A U.S. Senate Committee is investigating the price increase and there will be a hearing next week Wednesday, 9th December.
When I arrived in Lagos recently, I searched high and low for Daraprim - after all, my Father did well with it so I was more than happy to give it to my own Family. They offered me Metaprim instead since "Daraprim is no longer available." Now I fully understand why.
(c) JuicyChitChats 2015. [Friday 4th December]
TAGS: JuicyChitChats-Health. Daraprim. Martin Shkreli. Turing Pharmaceuticals. LiveTalkLearnProsper!
HASHTAGS: #JuicyChitChats-Health #Daraprim #MartinShkreli #TuringPharmaceuticals #LiveTalkLearnProsper
At yesterday's Healthcare Summit hosted by Forbes, when asked if he would do things differently he simply replied: "I probably would have raised the price higher, is probably what I should have done. I could have raised it higher and made more profits for our shareholders, Which is my primary duty ... No one wants to say it, no one is proud of it but this is a capitalist society, capitalist system and capitalist rules, and my investors expect me to maximize profits, not to minimize them, or go half, or go 70%, but to go 100% of the profit curve that we're all taught in MBA."
Shkreli has emphasized that the price of Daraprim will not change but he will offer hospitals a 50% discount. The price hike has been criticized by many Physician Groups and Organisations. A U.S. Senate Committee is investigating the price increase and there will be a hearing next week Wednesday, 9th December.
When I arrived in Lagos recently, I searched high and low for Daraprim - after all, my Father did well with it so I was more than happy to give it to my own Family. They offered me Metaprim instead since "Daraprim is no longer available." Now I fully understand why.
(c) JuicyChitChats 2015. [Friday 4th December]
TAGS: JuicyChitChats-Health. Daraprim. Martin Shkreli. Turing Pharmaceuticals. LiveTalkLearnProsper!
HASHTAGS: #JuicyChitChats-Health #Daraprim #MartinShkreli #TuringPharmaceuticals #LiveTalkLearnProsper
Shareholders my rare end. This is a very greedy man. He has no ethics, no decent moral compass. Greedy, greedy thing! God help him.
ReplyDeleteOf course not lol
ReplyDeleteThis is too bad to be true. What a greedy fellow. Horrible thing.
ReplyDeleteWhat he is doing is not right. Smh
ReplyDeleteSheesh
ReplyDeletewhat a terrible thing to do. freakin son of a gun, the worst kind of scum with zero conscience.
ReplyDeleteThis is awful. No shame
ReplyDelete