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  1. #1
    Thailand Expat AntRobertson's Avatar
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    CEO who raised price of AIDS drug more than $700 calls journalist a 'moron'

    I'm a pacifist by nature however I have an overwhelming compulsion to punch this cnut in the face. Repeatedly.

    Bow to your douche-bag god, free-market capitalists:

    CEO who raised price of AIDS drug more than $700 calls journalist a 'moron' for asking why

    12:23 PM Tuesday Sep 22, 2015



    Ever since an HIV/AIDS patient advocacy group began raising questions last week about why Turing Pharmaceuticals jacked up the price for a medication from $US13.50 per pill to $US750 overnight, anger against the company has been boiling over.

    The medicine, Daraprim, which has been on the market for 62 years, is the standard of care for a food-borne illness called called toxoplasmosis caused by a parasite that can severely affect those with compromised immune systems. Turing purchased the rights to the drug last month and almost immediately raised prices.



    Alarmed consumers took to Reddit to call for a boycott of the company's products (with some pointing out that it's hard to boycott a drug if you'll die without it) and calling for new laws to prevent this kind of thing from happening in the future.

    Judith Aberg, a spokesperson for the HIV Medicine Association, has calculated that even patients with insurance could wind up paying $US150 per pill out of pocket. "This is a tremendous increase," she told USA Today.

    The New York Times reported that Alberg's group and the Infectious Diseases Society of America wrote in a joint letter to Turing earlier this month complaining that the price increase is "unjustifiable for the medically vulnerable patient population" and "unsustainable for the health care system."

    The news even got the attention of Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, who called the pricing "outrageous" and promised that she had a plan to take on the issue. Clinton is scheduled to unveil a highly anticipated drug pricing proposal Wednesday:

    "Price gouging like this in the specialty drug market is outrageous. Tomorrow I'll lay out a plan to take it on."

    The tweet drew strong reaction from Wall Street, sending the Nasdaq biotech index down 4.41 percent on Tuesday.

    Turing spokesman Craig Rothenberg has said the company will use the money from the sales to further research treatments for toxoplasmosis, which he said has long been neglected. He also said the firm had plans to invest in marketing and education tools to raise awareness of the disease - a reasonable and reasoned answer, but one that has been unsatisfactory for many.

    (In an interview with The Washington Post on Tuesday, the company said the pill is actually $18 a tablet so the price increase is 4,100 percent. Media outlets had previously reported that the jump was more than 5,000 percent if based on an original price of $13.50.)

    John Carroll, the editor of Fierce Biotech, a daily newsletter about the industry, was one of the first to ask Turing chief executive Martin Shkreli directly to explain the move. In a hot-headed Twitter exchange over the weekend, Shkreli declined to provide additional information and instead launched into a series of personal attacks against Carroll - calling him "irrelevant" and someone who doesn't "think logically."

    Carroll tweeted, "Let's see if we can get a statement from @MartinShkreli. Martin, your co. just hiked the price of an old drug - new to you - by 5000%. Why?"

    To which Shkreli responded, "@JohnCFierce You are such a moron."

  2. #2
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    BobR's Avatar
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    My anger is against the Government, this should not have been able to happen with a 60 year old drug. It's the job of government to control psychopathic scum like this CEO.

    Doxycycline, which is another drug you can buy for 50 Baht in a Thai pharmacy has also gone to sky high prices in the US for a similar reason.

    This is a failure of the American Government and FDA. These drugs are long off patent.


    Lawmakers Probe 'Staggering' Price Hikes for Generic Drugs

    blogs.wsj.com/.../lawmakers-probe-staggering-pri...


    The Wall Street Journal

  3. #3
    Thailand Expat AntRobertson's Avatar
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    Aye, as the article states it's price gouging plain and simple.

    If there's such a thing as karma then this scumbag will contract some virulent disease.

  4. #4
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    ^ That has no cure.

  5. #5
    Thailand Expat AntRobertson's Avatar
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    ^ And hopefully starts at the genitles

  6. #6
    Excommunicated baldrick's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by BobR
    against the Government,
    that would be the lawmakers who take the bribes from lobbyists

    all these "free" trade pacts the seppos are trying to foist upon the world are an attempt by pharma and copyright to make their sad monopoly enforceable by law across the planet

  7. #7
    R.I.P.

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    Would the proposed TPP mean that a company such as this could sue a company in say Thailand that developed a generic version and sold it for the old price ?

    I see Baldrick has answered that while my typing finger was in action

  8. #8
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    Quote Originally Posted by baldrick View Post
    Quote Originally Posted by BobR
    against the Government,
    that would be the lawmakers who take the bribes from lobbyists

    all these "free" trade pacts the seppos are trying to foist upon the world are an attempt by pharma and copyright to make their sad monopoly enforceable by law across the planet
    Probably, I would not expect any better these days. Thank you for linking those 2 issues together, good thinking.
    Last edited by BobR; 22-09-2015 at 10:39 AM.

  9. #9
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    Quote Originally Posted by BobR View Post

    This is a failure of the American Government and FDA. These drugs are long off patent.

    If these drugs are 'long off patent' then a competitor would be able to make the same stuff and sell them at a much lower price, and still make a fortune, wouldn't they?

  10. #10
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    ^ If you want to post a shitty comment, knock yourself out, but at least read the article first. A generic drug is one that is off patent and is being manufactured by someone other than the company that developed and first sold it.

    These drugs go back 20-60 years.

  11. #11
    Thailand Expat harrybarracuda's Avatar
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    I am definitely in the hope-the-scumbag-gets-something-painful-and-untreatable camp.

  12. #12
    Excommunicated baldrick's Avatar
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    if you are actually interested in the real information behind this story I recommend you read this
    https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20...patients.shtml

    shkreli is pond scum but this publicity should cause him deserved dramas

    as per the drug itself - drug patents last 20 years ( which is too long ) - so the patent has expired

    Turing's exclusive license for Daraprim includes only the use of the trademarked name. The patents have expired. Anyone can make it, but no one's been particularly interested in offering an alternative. (Maybe this will change now that a company has a chance to take on the villain du jour…)
    this will mainly affect US users as

    In the UK, the same drug is currently sold by GSK at a cost of £13 for 30 tablets.
    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-34322720
    If you torture data for enough time , you can get it to say what you want.

  13. #13
    Thailand Expat AntRobertson's Avatar
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    ^Ta, interesting article.

    It's correct in saying that this Shkreli chap is simply a part of the problem and not the problem.

    But he represents the problem nevertheless so I'd still like to punch the slimy douche-bag in the face.

  14. #14
    Thailand Expat VocalNeal's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by palexxxx View Post
    If these drugs are 'long off patent' then a competitor would be able to make the same stuff and sell them at a much lower price, and still make a fortune, wouldn't they?
    They are probably already made in India. I believe Mr. Scum has the rights to market the drug, not to manufacture or manufacture.

  15. #15
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    The ridiculous approval process for generic drugs is part of the problem. Health care providers should be allowed to order generic drugs directly from overseas manufacturers and distributors without needing American distribution networks.

    I actually have some empathy for the legitimate pharmaceutical companies that spend billions to develop a new drug and bring it to market, they deserve protection and need it if new and better ones are to be developed. The litigation game with newer drugs wastes billions of dollars yearly too.

  16. #16
    Excommunicated baldrick's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by BobR
    that spend billions to develop a new drug and bring it to market
    thats what the drug companies tell you with their spin - independent research with the very same data indicates about 55 million - https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20...-billion.shtml

  17. #17
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    Quote Originally Posted by BobR View Post
    The ridiculous approval process for generic drugs is part of the problem. Health care providers should be allowed to order generic drugs directly from overseas manufacturers and distributors without needing American distribution networks.

    I actually have some empathy for the legitimate pharmaceutical companies that spend billions to develop a new drug and bring it to market, they deserve protection and need it if new and better ones are to be developed. The litigation game with newer drugs wastes billions of dollars yearly too.
    The rush to get new drugs onto the markets to satisfy shareholders can also mess up result-testing procedure.

  18. #18
    euston has flown

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    All thats happened here is that the chap has bought a product that was priced on the cost of production, and used the monopoly position he has re-priced the drug based upon the value of that drug to the people who need it, a man simply living the libertarian dream of personal freedom and responsibility. He can maintain the monopoly despite the drug being out of patent because he has the right to the only licensed supply of the drug in the US, for someone to compete with him they will have to take their own verion of the drug through full licencing.... very expensive for a low volume drug or prove that their generic is identical to the 'real' stuff down to the compounding and impurities.... hard to do when our little toe rag has clamped down on the distribution to prevent you get sifficent samples of the drug to do your testing.... a clamp down that means hospitals cannot give the drug to patients to take home, and people have to buy the drug from a single pharmacy co by mail order... which fucks you if your homeless.

    essentially whats happened is a series of low demand drugs for rare conditions has created a market for orphan drugs, which are eye wateringly expensive simply because there is no demand to offset the massive upfront costs of production setup, licensing and marketing.

    This chap along with a few others have decided that its the treating a rare condition is what makes these drugs attract high prices so they go on the prowl for them buy them on the cheap from companies only to happy to get rid of a low margin/loss making hastle... they then hike the price and rake it in.

    A simular example is Cycloserine a eli drug that they donated to generic/contract manufactures in china, india and the us. it was sold by a us non-profit in the us for $480/30 pills at a loss of 1 million a year, they transfered the drug to a another company run by a diferent spive who jacked it upto 10,800/30 pills. The non-profit reacted by reacquiring the rights and repricing it ro $1000/30 pills in the hope not to loose money.
    In comparison the NHS buys this drug at 480 GBP/100 pills from king pharmaceuticals which does show the fiancial challenges that the non-profite in the us faces.

    There is a decent artical about this issue in the wsj the only answer to the problem is leglslation, which would be carried out by politions who receve large sums of money the pharma and its lobbyists
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  19. #19
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    The asinine practice that each drug produced by each manufacturer needs to be individually approved for sale in the US is nonsense.

    Certainly any drug found suitable for sale in the EU, Canada, Australia, Singapore and other similar well functioning countries is suitable for sale in the USA, and the reverse is also true. Requiring duplicate prove ups only gives jobs to worthless bureaucrats, stifles competition and wastes money.

    This is using safety as a cynical excuse for a practice that is really meant to limit competition.

  20. #20
    Thailand Expat misskit's Avatar
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    Don't think it has been mentioned in any of the above links, Shkreli is already under several criminal investigation for his shenanigans. Why he is free to create further havoc baffles me.

    Biotech's 'Boy Genius' Faces New Allegations of Wrongdoing - Bloomberg Business

    CREW Calls for DOJ Investigation Into Short-Seller Shkreli | CREW | Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington

  21. #21
    euston has flown

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    ^^
    its worse than you think. the fda licence a drug, manufactured at a specific factory, using a specific method. change either and you need to go though a re licenceing process than can take ayear or more. It hit GSK with the worlds first non sleepy antihystamine.... the stuff was so popular they could not manufacture enough (in the uk) too them a yaer to move to a higher volume site due to these issues.

    As for why they do this. there is a food supliment called L-tryptophan which was manufactured by showa denko. they sold the stuff for a years without issue, they changed the manufacturing process and made the material less pure. The process introduced new contaminants into the suppliment. several of these impurities triggered and irreversible autoimmune condition in some people who took it


    ^He is a very bad man who's been very lucky to date. hopefully he was shorting loads of pharm shares before he did these statments and tanked their shares. which i belive can be prison time in the us

  22. #22
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    Quote Originally Posted by BobR View Post
    The asinine practice that each drug produced by each manufacturer needs to be individually approved for sale in the US is nonsense.

    Certainly any drug found suitable for sale in the EU, Canada, Australia, Singapore and other similar well functioning countries is suitable for sale in the USA, and the reverse is also true. Requiring duplicate prove ups only gives jobs to worthless bureaucrats, stifles competition and wastes money.

    This is using safety as a cynical excuse for a practice that is really meant to limit competition.
    Illegal importing of generic drugs that are cheap as chips here in Thailand must be great business opportunity.?

  23. #23
    Thailand Expat terry57's Avatar
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    I thought I would troll the local chemist shops and price up the generic cholesterol lowing drug Atorastatin 40 MG. 30 tabs.

    Cheapest I could find was 850 Baht and the highest was 1500 baht.

    Jesus, they charge what ever they think they can get.

    One must really look around when buying ones Drugs.

    Some big players Between Silom and Surawong road on Rama 4.

    Check them out.

    The small shops were the worst with the large drug shops being the best for price.

  24. #24
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    Quote Originally Posted by hazz
    As for why they do this. there is a food supliment called L-tryptophan which was manufactured by showa denko. they sold the stuff for a years without issue, they changed the manufacturing process and made the material less pure. The process introduced new contaminants into the suppliment. several of these impurities triggered and irreversible autoimmune condition in some people who took it
    Seems like an over-reaction for one screw up, maybe used it as an excuse to do something they wanted to do anyway. The primary objective seems to be limiting competition.
    Last edited by BobR; 24-09-2015 at 11:44 AM.

  25. #25
    Thailand Expat harrybarracuda's Avatar
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    Guess which industry was the top lobbyist in Washington last year with

    Wait for it

    $229,124,563

    !!!!!!!!

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