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. Sho
rtly
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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