The guy in the photo above is not only taking back all your Sundays, he's also keen on potentially receiving some of your money. When former hedge fund manager Martin Shkreli took over the rights to Daraprim as founder of Turing Pharmaceuticals, he conveniently raised the price "overnight" to the all American tune of an "almost 5,500 percent increase" in price. Daraprim is used to treat toxoplasmosis, a parasitic infection that's capable of causing life-threatening complications in infants and for "people with compromised immune systems," such as those with AIDS and even "certain" cancer patients.“This isn’t the greedy drug company trying to gouge patients, it is us trying to stay in business,” Shkreli told the New York Times. “It really doesn’t make sense to get any criticism for this.” Shkreli, photographed above in a crisp Brand New t-shirt whilst holding an adorable pet, is clearly perturbed by the fact that people object to the price hike at all. As for the man himself, he's clearly in possession of a compellingly juxtaposed music collection. In addition to being an obvious Jesse Lacey head, this supposed AIDS pill price hiker is also quite fond of Chamillionaire's discography:Shortly after the price hike spawned a lot of stories like this one, Shkreli took to television in an attempt to clarify the necessity of the 5,500 percent increase and voice his support of a profit-driven healthcare market:
Capitalism.
Quote from: HurtfulTurkey on September 21, 2015, 04:33:52 PMI normally try to avoid jumping on news bandwagons, but I can't think of a single legitimate reason for such an absurd price hike. He'll have to produce some very compelling profit data to justify this, because it sounds like fucking bullshit.I remember reading that his justification was that this way he'd be able to pour that money back into more research on the drug. In response to this, people were pointing out that this is bullshit as the drug is hardly being researched as it is and that there's no evidence to support that he'd actually use the money for such a purpose.
I normally try to avoid jumping on news bandwagons, but I can't think of a single legitimate reason for such an absurd price hike. He'll have to produce some very compelling profit data to justify this, because it sounds like fucking bullshit.
YouTubeHis CNBC interview.
Quote from: Fuddy-duddy on September 21, 2015, 04:25:20 PMCapitalism.Which is also the thing which lets other competitors come in and undercut the gougers
It shouldn't be a fucking competition.
Quote from: Fuddy-duddy on September 22, 2015, 10:39:55 AMIt shouldn't be a fucking competition.Actually it should be; the entire problem here is that this one company has the sole rights to manufacture Daraprim.
The underlying problem is the fact that we have a system that let's anyone with enough money hold PEOPLE'S LIVES for ransom in the first place
Quote from: Fuddy-duddy on September 21, 2015, 04:25:20 PMCapitalism.Which is also the thing which lets other competitors come in and undercut the gougers, assuming the gouge is indeed 'illegitimate'. Drugs aren't cheap.
This assumes the existence of competitors in a market with very well known and very substantial barriers of entry.
And you can't say that the barriers to entry only exist because of government regulation
Quote from: eggsalad on September 22, 2015, 11:04:06 AMThis assumes the existence of competitors in a market with very well known and very substantial barriers of entry.I've said several times now that the entire problem here is that Shkreli is abusing his position as a monopolist, because nobody has bothered to make a generic pyrimethamine drug.
You cannot say that this is not a kink in a free market system when the problem arises from no competitors choosing to compete.
And no, the burden of government regulation is not optional. Medicine needs to be assured to work.
I'm saying there shouldn't have to be other companies in the first place to undercut him.
We are now obliged to put in the effort in creating a generic drug, all because of this fuckhead.
Nobody is disagreeing with you; but this doesn't make FDA policy optimal, or automatically mean "the heavier the better". It takes about thirty months for a generic drug to pass through the ANDA scheme. This is, however you look at it, rather ridiculous. Especially since generic drugs of Daraprim are used all around the world as an antimalarial.
so I don't know the intricacies between the same drug being used for two characteristically different conditions
What? There weren't; that's what makes him a monopolist.
As I've noted, this has very little to do with the market as an inherently flawed system and more to do with the fact that this drug is incredibly niche by way of treating rare diseases, and the regulatory burden in the US when it comes to getting generic drugs through the FDA.
because the bottom line is that he shouldn't have raised the price to begin with
You can argue the regulatory burden is the more salient one, and I won't have much to say to that.
Quote from: Chaos Metal Dragon on September 22, 2015, 10:54:05 AMThe underlying problem is the fact that we have a system that let's anyone with enough money hold PEOPLE'S LIVES for ransom in the first placeWhy don't you tell me how you would organise the pharmaceutical industry then? Tell me how you would organise such a cost-intensive part of the economy so as to function efficiently without some kind of cost being incurred. I'd love to hear how you've reviewed all the healthcare literature from the WHO and MedPac, and are thus in a position to make such sweeping, ideological statements; I'm sure you wouldn't make such statements, unless you had a solid empirical understanding of what you're talking about. So, tell me all about how you would organise the biomedicial infrastructure of the US, how you would implement a superior system for the production and distribution of drugs and how you would accomplish such shockingly brilliant efficiency without the standard incentives which should be operating on pharma companies in some kind of market framework upheld by the government. But something tells me you haven't even bothered to do the slightest research, and have no idea what the fuck you're actually talking about.
Remove money. Problem solved.
“It requires a lot of attention and focus. The drug company needs to partner with the patients and make sure that it’s a very cared for community. And that costs a lot of money too,” pointing out that the company also “gives away” the drug for $1 for those who can’t afford it.
Patenting medicine really shouldn't be a thing.
people like this require the death penalty
