Turing increases price of Darapim to 750 per pill - Business Insider
A
biotech company founded by a former hedge fund manager recently
purchased the rights to a critical anti-parasitic drug and jacked up the
price by more than 5,000%.Start-up Turing Pharmaceuticals acquired Daraprim, a drug used to treat toxoplasmosis, in August. Toxoplasmosis is a disease caused by a common parasite that can be deadly, especially for those who are immunosuppressed.
Turing immediately increased the price of Daraprim from $13.50 per pill to $750, The New York Times reported.
In an interview with Bloomberg TV's Betty Liu on Monday, the
company's CEO Martin Shkreli defended the move, explaining that
they "need to turn a profit on the drug."
Daraprim, which has been around for 62 years, has had multiple
owners. Shkreli said that other companies were "giving it away almost."
He added that even at $750 per tablet, it's "still underpriced relative
to its peers."
It costs very little to make Daraprim, but Shrkeli said there are
other costs such as distribution costs that have increased over the
years.
