Sunday, September 27, 2015

Price Gouging CEO Announces Reduction In Drug Price After Hiking Price Over 5,000% Overnight


Current CEO of pharma company Turing (and professional asshole) Martin Shkreli outraged the medical world this week when he raised the price of Daraprim, a drug used to treat AIDS and cancer patients fighting life-threatening parasitic infections, by over 5,000%, from $13.50 to $750 a tablet literally overnight.

According to reports the pills cost about $1 to make.

The internet went wild over the news, with many calling Shkreli the “most-hated man in America.”

Now, the 32-year-old ex-hedge-funder has announced he will lower the price of Daraprim. How much remains to be seen.

From The Gaily Grind:

“We’ve agreed to lower the price of Daraprim to a price that is more affordable,” Shkreli said on ABC World News Tonight. He did not say what the new “affordable” price would be.

“Yes, it is absolutely a reaction,” Shkreli told NBC News. “There were mistakes made with respect to helping people understand why we took this action. I think that it makes sense to lower the price in response to the anger that was felt by people.”

He continued: “It’s very easy to see a large drug price increase and say ‘Gosh, those people must be gouging.’ But when you find out that the company is not really making any money, what does that mean?”

“I think in the society we live in today it’s easy to want to villainize people,” he said. “Obviously, we’re in an election cycle where this is very, very tough topic for people and it’s very sensitive. And I understand the outrage.”

“We’ll know in several weeks how profitable the drug is, if it at all,” he said. “It may turn out that’s it not even profitable at all, even at this price.”

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