Well played, Smapti; well played.
I know I’m not saying anything new here, but this person is disgusting.
Yeah, you got whooshed. I thought about mentioning the facts when the original post was made, but decided against it.
There is an argument for higher drug prices to pay for R&D - but that’s not applicable here, since as I understand it the asshole’s company doesn’t do any R&D.
If there ever was a perfect time to try out the classic “He needed killing” defense, plugging this guy would be it.
The guy has opened up an opportunity for another drug manufacturer-competition will prevent this guy from maintaining his $5000/dose price. A small house could start making the drug and drive him out of business.
It’ll take three years and many moneys, and then the price will crash. I’m not sure who would make that investment.
I don’t really think the data supports that.
First off, there are a number of industries out there where research is cost-intensive, and none of them seems to demand human sacrifice to keep research going.
Second, the pharmas actually spend more on marketing drugs in the US than developing them. It seems reasonable that if drugs were treated in the European fashion, the now-useless marketing budgets would be cut, not the still-profitable research.
Third, the pharmas develop drugs they think will sell. If they aren’t allowed to make a profit of 700 per pill in the US market, will they stop selling it at a profit of 1 per pill in the rest o the world, just out of spite?
When pharmas negotiate with governments in other developed countries about what price to sell drugs at, they don’t end up with a price that they lose money on.
Fourth, the biggest single research funder in the world in the US government through the NIH, which does not sell any drugs.
Fifth, while the US does spend more money per person on research, the US spends more money per person on everything involving health, and there are no signs of proportionally improved performance elsewhere. The US seems good at refining other breakthroughs into something marketable or practical, but I don’t really remember any of the epoch-making breakthroughs coming from US pharmas.
In short, I don’t think that the leap from “Pharmas make less moneny in the US” to “Pharmas spend less money on research” holds.
Agreed, I went down to the quarry and threw stuff in. 'd
So, has Shkreli actually lowered the price like he said?
It’ll be interesting to see. I wouldn’t be surprised if a foreign pharmaceutical that currently sells pyrimethamine will try to put in an ANDA application. Someone who can already manufacture the stuff in large quantities may only have to fill out a bunch of documents showing that they meet FDA standards, and do one quick round of bio-equivalence testing. And maybe, with the current political furor, the FDA will bump that application to the front of the line.
The reward wouldn’t be worth much on its own, but it would also come with a ton of positive publicity and goodwill. Might be a good way for, say, a major Indian pharmaceutical to get their foot in the door in the US market.
It looks lik Shkreli just got screwed.
http://www.addictinginfo.org/2015/10/22/pharma-bro-about-to-lose-his-shirt-as-rival-makes-1-alternative-to-his-750-ripoff/
A Google search tells me that pyrimethamine (the generic name for Daraprim) is usually prescribed in combination with leucovorin (in order to prevent side effects of pyrimethamine), so it apparently makes sense medically to compound them in one capsule. I’m guessing that by compounding it like this, they’re using some loophole that will allow them to market pyrimethamine in spite of whatever special rights Shkreli might have.
Okay, this really makes me laugh.
http://gawker.com/did-dirtbag-pill-bro-martin-shkreli-photoshop-an-x-ray-1737268060
Called it!
He’ll have to lower it now, substantially, if he wants to sell any.
He has now. Instead of charging 5000% of the former price, he’s now decided to sell it for…
(drumroll)
How does he think he can compete with Imprimis’ $0.99 a capsule?
He’s been arrested on fraud charges.
It’s a Christmas miracle!
My first thought was that his drug pricing noteriety led them to go looking for something that they could prosecute him for, but according to the article their investigation goes back at least as far as January, so he was in potential trouble even before Daraprim.
I think this paragraph explains things:
I’m guessing that he wanted to make a killing on Daraprim in order to replace those assets and maybe escape a lawsuit or criminal charges.
In one sense this is bad news.
Martin Shkreli was a poster-boy for the theme: America’s unfettered dog-eat-dog capitalism is bad. Now the defenders of dog-eat-dog will be able to say “No, Shkreli is a criminal; he’s just an aberration.”