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Daraprim 'profiteering' controversy lifts lid on soaring cost of prescription drugs
Key Excerpts from Article on Website of The Guardian (One of the UK's leading newspapers)
Posted: October 4th, 2015
http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/us-money-blog/2015/sep/27...
Until this week most of us had never heard of Daraprim, a drug that fights toxoplasmosis. But after the decision of the drugs new owner, Turing Pharmaceuticals, to boost its cost per pill from $13.50 to a whopping $750, were all unlikely to forget its name or the name of Turings owner, 32-year-old Martin Shkreli. The outrage over the astronomical hike in a life-saving drug has opened the doors to a ... debate about the soaring costs of prescription medications in the United States. Daraprim ... has been around since the 1940s. Logic suggests that drugs that have been around for a while should decline in price. It turns out that isnt the case. The profit-minded individual or company snaps up the patents, suddenly hikes the drugs price and puts consumers from insurance companies to individuals in a position of either paying what is demanded or going without. Late this summer, Rodelis Therapeutics boosted the cost of 30 tablets of cycloserine, a tuberculosis drug, from $500 to $10,800. Early in the year, Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc boosted the prices of two heart drugs, Nitropress and Isuprel, by 525% and 212% on the same day that they acquired them. Our duty is to shareholders and to maximize the value of Valeants products, a company spokeswoman told the Wall Street Journal at the time.
Note: For more along these lines, see concise summaries of deeply revealing news articles about big pharma profiteering from reliable major media sources.
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