Drug Price Increase from $13.50 to $750

#1
rjd970

rjd970

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#1
Anybody see this?

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/21/b...se-in-a-drugs-price-raises-protests.html?_r=0


Specialists in infectious disease are protesting a gigantic overnight increase in the price of a 62-year-old drug that is the standard of care for treating a life-threatening parasitic infection.

The drug, called Daraprim, was acquired in August by Turing Pharmaceuticals, a start-up run by a former hedge fund manager. Turing immediately raised the price to $750 a tablet from $13.50, bringing the annual cost of treatment for some patients to hundreds of thousands of dollars.
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Also, this Shkreli character seems rather shady...

This is not the first time the 32-year-old Mr. Shkreli, who has a reputation for both brilliance and brashness, has been the center of controversy. He started MSMB Capital, a hedge fund company, in his 20s and drew attention for urging the Food and Drug Administration not to approve certain drugs made by companies whose stock he was shorting.

In 2011, Mr. Shkreli started Retrophin, which also acquired old neglected drugs and sharply raised their prices. Retrophin’s board fired Mr. Shkreli a year ago. Last month, it filed a complaint in Federal District Court in Manhattan, accusing him of using Retrophin as a personal piggy bank to pay back angry investors in his hedge fund.
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What say you? Good business or unethical capitalism?
 
#4
#4
rjd970 said:
Anybody see this?

What say you? Good business or unethical capitalism?
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It's not the free market. This is croneyism. The free market would currently be selling this pill for nothing. Government croneyism is protecting their profits.
 
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#5
#5
#7
#7
Are there not other treatments?

When the drug is priced out of the market, would the price not fall?
 
#8
#8
I'm surprised a drug that old doesn't have a generic option. Usually that's when the capitalism kicks in.
 
#13
#13
He's an extreme example of Wall Street greed run amok, that's all.

Nonetheless, he is for sure going to H E double tooth picks.
 
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#14
#14
SamRebel35 said:
No generic is available.
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If it is a 62 year old drug, so there is absolutely nothing to prevent someone from making the exact same thing just under a different name.

What this guy has done is unethical though. They are the only current producer of the drug so sounds like he is trying to make a quick buck off the few that take the drug before another producer has the chance to enter the market.
 
#15
#15
SamRebel35 said:
You can't call it capitalism. Is it capitalism when a government allows and encourages a monopoly to form? Sounds more like a business man taking advantage of an existing monopoly that was permitted to form by the government.
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How is this a government monopoly? The government is not preventing others from making the drug.
 
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#16
#16
60 Minutes had an interesting piece on this type of thing about a year ago. They confronted doctors/hospitals directly for charging up to $45 a piece for Tylenol. Always check the bill, ladies and gentlemen. This is the biggest scam in America.
 
#17
#17
vols4sure said:
If it is a 62 year old drug, so there is absolutely nothing to prevent someone from making the exact same thing just under a different name.

What this guy has done is unethical though. They are the only current producer of the drug so sounds like he is trying to make a quick buck off the few that take the drug before another producer has the chance to enter the market.
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I'll call it unethical for sure, but I will never label something like this a failure of capitalism. There would have been 30 different variations of a generic version 60 years ago if the government didn't encourage monopolies of Medicine.
 
#19
#19
SamRebel35 said:
I'll call it unethical for sure, but I will never label something like this a failure of capitalism. There would have been 30 different variations of a generic version 60 years ago if the government didn't encourage monopolies of Medicine.
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30 different versions for a drug that, according to the article, is rarely used?

We obviously disagree, but I would hate to see the decline in medicine if we took away the financial incentive for expensive research and development.
 
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#21
#21
This is a prime example of how some big business will manipulate the free market to set price. Nothing but pure greed.
 
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#24
#24
n_huffhines said:
It's inelastic (oh boy here we go again). People dying will pay anything.
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I just have a hard time believing that in 62 years of medicine that this is the only treatment. He'll Guinness black drought cures dogs of heart worms and its 10 bucks for a 6 pack as opposed to 500.00 to my vet.
 
#25
#25
so patents are now anti-capitalistic? especially ones that run out more than a quarter of a century ago?
 
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