US drugmaker to roll back pill price after hike sparks outrage

Turing Pharmaceuticals said on Tuesday it would make sure an old anti-infective drug remains affordable. The company had previously announced a 5,000 percent price hike on the pill. 

|
AP Photo/Matt Rourke, File
Various prescription drugs are seen on the automated pharmacy assembly line at Medco Health Solutions in Willingboro, N.J. on June 14, 2011. Drugmaker Turing Pharmaceuticals said on Tuesday it would roll back the 5,000 percent price hike it planned for the pill Daraprim after critics, who included Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton, called the increase unjustifiable.

Turing Pharmaceuticals, a small company that generated outrage over raising the cost of an old anti-infective drug by more than 5,000 percent, said on Tuesday it would roll back that increase to make sure it remains affordable.

Turing and its Chief Executive Officer Martin Shkreli became the new face of the US drug pricing controversy this week, after the New York Times reported that the company had raised the price of Daraprim, a 62-year-old treatment for a dangerous parasitic infection, to $750 a pill from $13.50 after acquiring it. The medicine once sold for $1 a pill.

The story sparked outrage among patients, medical societies, and Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton, who outlined on Tuesday a proposal to cap skyrocketing prescription drug costs for consumers.

"We've agreed to lower the price of Daraprim to a point that is more affordable and is able to allow the company to make a profit, but a very small profit, and we think these changes will be welcome," Mr. Shkreli told ABC World News Tonight. The final cost was still being determined, but would be less than $750 per pill.

Earlier in the day, PhRMA, the pharmaceutical industry's main lobbying group, sought to distance itself from Turing's move, posting on Twitter that the drugmaker "does not represent the values of PhRMA member companies."

Asked for further details, the lobby group noted that Turing is not one of its members, which include global drugmakers such as Merck & Co, Pfizer and Novartis.

"PhRMA members have a long history of drug discovery and innovation that has led to increased longevity and improved lives for millions of patients," the group said in a statement. "Turing Pharmaceutical is not a member of PhRMA and we do not embrace either their recent actions or the conduct of their CEO."

In an interview on CNBC on Monday, an unapologetic Shkreli said that Daraprim had been priced too low and that his company needed to generate profits that it would spend on new research and development. PhRMA member companies have made similar arguments on the need to price new drugs high enough to ensure that they have enough to cover their R&D investments.

Asked if he would lower the price in response to the furor, Shkreli simply responded, "No." 

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

QR Code to US drugmaker to roll back pill price after hike sparks outrage
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/Business/2015/0922/US-drugmaker-to-roll-back-pill-price-after-hike-sparks-outrage
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe