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tenderfoot

(8,424 posts)
Mon Sep 21, 2015, 05:46 PM Sep 2015

Ex-hedge funder buys rights to AIDS drug and raises price from $13.50 to $750 per pill

I just thought I'd post this here because surely there's some conservative douche troll that supports this asshole 110%



A former hedge fund manager turned pharmaceutical businessman has purchased the rights to a 62-year-old drug used for treating life-threatening parasitic infections and raised the price overnight from $13.50 per tablet to $750.

WATCH: Ex-hedge funder who hiked AIDS pill cost by 5,500 percent says drug ‘still underpriced’

According to the New York Times, Martin Shkreli, 32, the founder and chief executive of Turing Pharmaceuticals, purchased the rights to Daraprim for $55 million on the same day that Turing announced it had raised $90 million from Shkreli and other investors in its first round of financing.

Daraprim is used for treating toxoplasmosis — an opportunistic parasitic infection that can cause serious or even life-threatening problems in babies and for people with compromised immune systems like AIDS patients and certain cancer patients — that sold for slightly over $1 a tablet several years ago. Prices have increased as the rights to the drug have been passed from one pharmaceutical company to the next, but nothing like the almost 5,500 percent increase since Shkreli acquired it.

Worrying that the cost of treatment could devastate some patients, Dr. Judith Aberg, the chief of the division of infectious diseases at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai asked, “What is it that they are doing differently that has led to this dramatic increase?”

According to Shkreli, Turing will use the money it earns to develop better treatments for toxoplasmosis, with fewer side effects.

“This isn’t the greedy drug company trying to gouge patients, it is us trying to stay in business,” Shkreli explained, saying that many patients use the drug for far less than a year and that the new price is similar to other drugs used for rare diseases.

Shrkeli also defended his small pharmaceutical company saying, “It really doesn’t make sense to get any criticism for this.”

This is not the first time the fledgling pharmaceutical executive has come under scrutiny.

He started the hedge fund MSMB Capital while in his 20’s and was accused of urging the FDA to not approve certain drugs made by companies whose stock he was shorting.

more: http://www.rawstory.com/2015/09/ex-hedge-funder-buys-rights-aids-drug-and-raises-price-from-13-50-to-750-per-pill/

64 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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Ex-hedge funder buys rights to AIDS drug and raises price from $13.50 to $750 per pill (Original Post) tenderfoot Sep 2015 OP
Shkreli is an opportunistic parasitic infection alcibiades_mystery Sep 2015 #1
Sounds like a hate crime to me. Erich Bloodaxe BSN Sep 2015 #2
Couldn't he go to jail for meddling with the market? n/t woodsprite Sep 2015 #3
This is free market healthcare! If you don't like it you're a commie! Doctor_J Sep 2015 #4
Proud to say I am a Commie! PowerToThePeople Sep 2015 #9
I'm a "Health-Care Socialist" KansDem Sep 2015 #48
Rope, nearest lamp post to his headquarters. hobbit709 Sep 2015 #5
F that guy irisblue Sep 2015 #7
pike. PowerToThePeople Sep 2015 #11
The people behind La Terreur had a point. n/t lumberjack_jeff Sep 2015 #17
Yep. Not worth the effort to build a guillotine. hifiguy Sep 2015 #30
This is horrible. polly7 Sep 2015 #6
Good for him! Make that money! RadiationTherapy Sep 2015 #8
Yay for greed and thievery, uh? Duppers Sep 2015 #18
If it's a 62-year-old drug ... surrealAmerican Sep 2015 #10
Yeah, the story is leaving something out. progressoid Sep 2015 #13
I don't understand this. lumberjack_jeff Sep 2015 #16
I'm a little tired so I can't claim to understand what I just read. progressoid Sep 2015 #21
I had no idea. Thanks. lumberjack_jeff Sep 2015 #42
Exclusivity is for NEW drugs. Ms. Toad Sep 2015 #43
If you hire enough lawyers, no one can make a generic. Suprax did this. McCamy Taylor Sep 2015 #63
I would say you can make it cost-prohibitive to make a generic. Ms. Toad Sep 2015 #64
You can't have a copyright on a name Ms. Toad Sep 2015 #44
Thanks for the correction. nt lumberjack_jeff Sep 2015 #46
No problem. If forced to guess, I'd say More people believe you can copyright a name, Ms. Toad Sep 2015 #57
I admit the distinction between trademark and copyright has always been hazy to me. lumberjack_jeff Sep 2015 #58
I play in both worlds. Ms. Toad Sep 2015 #61
But wait, I have argued against capitalism including the INSANITY of individuals owning DIRT/land randys1 Sep 2015 #27
Exactly. Duppers Sep 2015 #22
Its not a patent issue Sgent Sep 2015 #26
He wants babies to die? lpbk2713 Sep 2015 #12
Time for government controls on all pharmaceuticals pipoman Sep 2015 #14
Job creator? Inventor? Entrepreneur? Morally upright? lumberjack_jeff Sep 2015 #15
k/r nationalize the fed Sep 2015 #19
Post removed Post removed Sep 2015 #20
Post removed Post removed Sep 2015 #29
How is this even LEGAL??????????? Takket Sep 2015 #23
I'm generally pro-free markets and competition, Nye Bevan Sep 2015 #24
$13.50 to $750 and in the U.K. it is still $1.73 per pill. Good ole American Capitalism at work LiberalArkie Sep 2015 #25
We can't import or negotiate. elehhhhna Sep 2015 #31
Wasn't that written into the ACA? n/t BuelahWitch Sep 2015 #45
Evil fucker. Hope karma hits him upside the head with a 2by4. TDale313 Sep 2015 #28
+1000, Definitely a face badly in need of a fist. smirkymonkey Sep 2015 #32
Don't miss this monster on CNBC, this interview with him is stunning. Don't know how to embed this Bluenorthwest Sep 2015 #33
The fantasies going through my head about what to do with this bastard Jack Rabbit Sep 2015 #34
Sociopath LittleBlue Sep 2015 #35
He's an arrogant little pisser, isn't he? n/t BuelahWitch Sep 2015 #36
I hope his picture goes viral. Lifelong Protester Sep 2015 #37
This message was self-deleted by its author Eric J in MN Sep 2015 #38
How is this not extortion? Capt.Rocky300 Sep 2015 #39
There is a magic bullet for diseases like this one. leveymg Sep 2015 #40
This malicious little shit will regret this if he's ever hospitalized. Lars39 Sep 2015 #41
Twitter Shreds Drug Profiteer as Price Rise Scandal Goes National polly7 Sep 2015 #47
Amazing that he even looks like a douchebag ... eppur_se_muova Sep 2015 #49
Isn't he in hell yet? Lifelong Protester Sep 2015 #50
Given what a gigantic ego and mouth this asshole has, hifiguy Sep 2015 #51
The current winner Turbineguy Sep 2015 #52
This is one time I think a 'government takeover' would be justified... Rosco T. Sep 2015 #53
here are the SMUG shots napkinz Sep 2015 #54
Hope he can afford plastic surgery off all that dough, because he's gona need much surgery to never lonestarnot Sep 2015 #56
Human excrement like him is what hedge funds produce. nt valerief Sep 2015 #55
Sheer fucking genius.... RR2 Sep 2015 #59
Another Libertarian. Ikonoklast Sep 2015 #60
Why is a drug this old still on patent? McCamy Taylor Sep 2015 #62

Erich Bloodaxe BSN

(14,733 posts)
2. Sounds like a hate crime to me.
Mon Sep 21, 2015, 05:53 PM
Sep 2015

A deliberate attempt to drive the drug out of the price range of many AIDS patients and kill them sooner.

 

Doctor_J

(36,392 posts)
4. This is free market healthcare! If you don't like it you're a commie!
Mon Sep 21, 2015, 05:59 PM
Sep 2015

Get used to it folks. One neoliberal in the WH now, another one coming soon.

 

hifiguy

(33,688 posts)
30. Yep. Not worth the effort to build a guillotine.
Mon Sep 21, 2015, 07:39 PM
Sep 2015

The Mussolini treatment is good enough for this scumbag.

polly7

(20,582 posts)
6. This is horrible.
Mon Sep 21, 2015, 06:02 PM
Sep 2015

And he sounds like a real jerk.

"The hedge fund manager responsible for the price increase is named Martin Shkreli. Shkreli has a reputation as some type of wunderkind, having started his own hedge fund company while still in his 20's. Shkreli has already drawn attention for urging the FDA not to approve drugs made by companies whose stocks Shkreli was shorting. In July 20012, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington called for an investigation of Shkreli and others whom it charged were manipulating the prices of drug company stocks through blog posts intended to spread negative and purportedly misleading information about certain drugs. According to CREW, Mr. Shkreli has acknowledged he has no medical expertise whatsoever. His company stands to increase sales in the magnitude of tens or even hundreds of millions of dollars from the price increase, according to the article."

Full article: http://www.alternet.org/economy/hedge-fund-manager-buys-rights-critical-drug-hikes-price-5000?akid=13503.44541.wMRQhR&rd=1&src=newsletter1042766&t=5

RadiationTherapy

(5,818 posts)
8. Good for him! Make that money!
Mon Sep 21, 2015, 06:03 PM
Sep 2015

This is absolutely the value system propagated in the past 50 years of America and to even write an article about it - let alone discuss it or feel outrage - is to be quite naive, in my opinion. After 13 years at a uni library and being milked for every skill set and every shift with no corresponding compensation in the name of budget cuts and crises, I find this to be exactly the same thing. Fraudulently milking staff of skills and hours without paying is directly connected to the sick practice of price gouging and it should be no surprise that it is not only common, but glorified.

This guy is getting his and he is doing it in a fashion that matches America values. Good for him.

surrealAmerican

(11,340 posts)
10. If it's a 62-year-old drug ...
Mon Sep 21, 2015, 06:11 PM
Sep 2015

... why is this possible? The patent should have run out - "exclusive rights" ought not exist.

progressoid

(49,827 posts)
13. Yeah, the story is leaving something out.
Mon Sep 21, 2015, 06:27 PM
Sep 2015

Drug patents last 20 IIRC. It appears he secured the exclusive rights to sell Daraprim.

So, anyone can make it, but only he can sell it.

YAY CAPITALISM!!!





 

lumberjack_jeff

(33,224 posts)
16. I don't understand this.
Mon Sep 21, 2015, 06:41 PM
Sep 2015

You can have a patent on a drug. You can have a copyright on a name. But that copyright does not prevent anyone from selling a generic.

progressoid

(49,827 posts)
21. I'm a little tired so I can't claim to understand what I just read.
Mon Sep 21, 2015, 06:53 PM
Sep 2015
1. What is the difference between patents and exclusivity?

Patents and exclusivity work in a similar fashion but are distinctly different from one another. Patents are granted by the patent and trademark office anywhere along the development lifeline of a drug and can encompass a wide range of claims. Exclusivity is exclusive marketing rights granted by the FDA upon approval of a drug and can run concurrently with a patent or not. Exclusivity is a statutory provision and is granted to an NDA applicant if statutory requirements are met. See 21 C.F.R. 314.108. Exclusivity was designed to promote a balance between new drug innovation and generic drug competition.


http://www.fda.gov/Drugs/DevelopmentApprovalProcess/ucm079031.htm

Ms. Toad

(33,915 posts)
43. Exclusivity is for NEW drugs.
Tue Sep 22, 2015, 12:44 AM
Sep 2015

This is not a new drug, so I don't believe it was granted exclusivity.

They did restrict the availability for competitors to obtain samples shortly before raising the prices. In order for another company to be able to produce a generic, it has to establish that the drug is equivalent both chemically and bioavailability - which requires comparison with the approved drug. So it will just cost enormously more to get to the point of getting another generic approved.

Ms. Toad

(33,915 posts)
64. I would say you can make it cost-prohibitive to make a generic.
Thu Sep 24, 2015, 09:40 AM
Sep 2015

Making a generic is a matter of science, but battling multiple appeals about whether there is the same bioavailabiity makes the process too costly for low-profit medications.

Ms. Toad

(33,915 posts)
44. You can't have a copyright on a name
Tue Sep 22, 2015, 12:46 AM
Sep 2015
Copyright law does not protect names, titles, or short phrases or expressions. Even
if a name, title, or short phrase is novel or distinctive or lends itself to a play on
words, it cannot be protected by copyright. The Copyright Office cannot register
claims to exclusive rights in brief combinations of words such as:
• Names of products or services
• Names of businesses, organizations, or groups (including the names of
performing groups)
• Pseudonyms of individuals (including pen or stage names)
• Titles of works
• Catchwords, catchphrases, mottoes, slogans, or short advertising expressions
• Listings of ingredients, as in recipes, labels, or formulas. When a recipe or
formula is accompanied by an explanation or directions, the text directions
may be copyrightable, but the recipe or formula itself remains uncopyrightable.


http://copyright.gov/circs/circ34.pdf

You are thinking of a trademark - and you are correct as to the impact of having a trademark - it can't prevent a competitor from selling the same product.

Ms. Toad

(33,915 posts)
57. No problem. If forced to guess, I'd say More people believe you can copyright a name,
Wed Sep 23, 2015, 01:04 AM
Sep 2015

than know you can't.

 

lumberjack_jeff

(33,224 posts)
58. I admit the distinction between trademark and copyright has always been hazy to me.
Wed Sep 23, 2015, 10:29 AM
Sep 2015

I guess that's one reason why I'm an engineer, not a lawyer.

randys1

(16,286 posts)
27. But wait, I have argued against capitalism including the INSANITY of individuals owning DIRT/land
Mon Sep 21, 2015, 07:21 PM
Sep 2015

and i Have been told over and over that I am a lunatic.

You mean capitalism for the most part can be abused and can hurt people?

Never saw that coming, did I.

Sgent

(5,857 posts)
26. Its not a patent issue
Mon Sep 21, 2015, 07:18 PM
Sep 2015

the drug only sold 13m a year prior to the price increase. There wasn't any profit for a second manufacturer to compete in the market. He bought the only company that actually produces the drug in question.

Given current prices, a second manufacturer will come in, but there are two issues:

1) Time -- it will take 1-2 years for a second manufacturer to start producing it, by that time the hedge fund asshole has already made hundreds of millions in profits -- not bad for a 55m investment.

2) Access -- along with the price increase this asshole changed the distribution system (you won't find it in your neighborhood pharmacy, it has to be sourced directly from the company on a per patient basis). This makes it difficult for a new manufacturer to acquire enough of the existing drug to prove bio-equivalence, which is needed for a generic drug to be produced.

 

pipoman

(16,038 posts)
14. Time for government controls on all pharmaceuticals
Mon Sep 21, 2015, 06:36 PM
Sep 2015

And a lengthy application period for price increases...

 

lumberjack_jeff

(33,224 posts)
15. Job creator? Inventor? Entrepreneur? Morally upright?
Mon Sep 21, 2015, 06:39 PM
Sep 2015

This asshole demolishes all the tropes used to deify the rich.

This guy is rich because he's an asshole. It only takes one example to prove the premise.

nationalize the fed

(2,169 posts)
19. k/r
Mon Sep 21, 2015, 06:46 PM
Sep 2015
Bitter Pill: Why Medical Bills Are Killing Us

Time.com | Steven Brill | April 4, 2013
http://time.com/198/bitter-pill-why-medical-bills-are-killing-us/



...Put simply, with Obamacare we’ve changed the rules related to who pays for what, but we haven’t done much to change the prices we pay.

When you follow the money, you see the choices we’ve made, knowingly or unknowingly.

Over the past few decades, we’ve enriched the labs, drug companies, medical device makers, hospital administrators and purveyors of CT scans, MRIs, canes and wheelchairs. Meanwhile, we’ve squeezed the doctors who don’t own their own clinics, don’t work as drug or device consultants or don’t otherwise game a system that is so gameable. And of course, we’ve squeezed everyone outside the system who gets stuck with the bills.

We’ve created a secure, prosperous island in an economy that is suffering under the weight of the riches those on the island extract.

And we’ve allowed those on the island and their lobbyists and allies to control the debate, diverting us from what Gerard Anderson, a health care economist at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, says is the obvious and only issue: “All the prices are too damn high.”
http://time.com/198/bitter-pill-why-medical-bills-are-killing-us/

^ a must read- we will never fix the problem if we don't understand exactly what it is

Response to tenderfoot (Original post)

Response to Post removed (Reply #20)

Takket

(21,425 posts)
23. How is this even LEGAL???????????
Mon Sep 21, 2015, 07:01 PM
Sep 2015

Doesn't the FDA or some agency oversee these prices to prevent gouging? or just look out of the general wellbeing of society? if you allow people to just charge anything they want for drugs people will DIE. Literally DIE because they can't afford it.

And the "free market" argument holds no water. this is not like someone buying Oreck and jacking up the price of vacuum cleaners. the free market adjusts for that by having people just buy other vacuums until Oreck decides to lower prices or go out of business. But when you talk about doctors prescribing something a patient needs, its not like they can just shop for a competitors drug.

The government needs to put a stop to this now. we already pay 10x more than other countries for our medical care and when all the copy cats steal this asshole's idea before you know it we will all be paying 5000x!!!!!!!!!!!

Nye Bevan

(25,406 posts)
24. I'm generally pro-free markets and competition,
Mon Sep 21, 2015, 07:02 PM
Sep 2015

but with healthcare as a big exception. "Competition" in health care means that whoever provides the least care at the highest price wins, which is unconscionable, as is what this guy is doing. Only a true sociopath would be able to do this and be able to live with himself.

 

smirkymonkey

(63,221 posts)
32. +1000, Definitely a face badly in need of a fist.
Mon Sep 21, 2015, 08:18 PM
Sep 2015

I can't even say what I really like to see happen to this greedy, disgusting pig.

 

Bluenorthwest

(45,319 posts)
33. Don't miss this monster on CNBC, this interview with him is stunning. Don't know how to embed this
Mon Sep 21, 2015, 08:18 PM
Sep 2015

but it's worth the click. It will piss you off.

The asshole speaks:
http://www.cnbc.com/2015/09/21/drug-goes-from-1350-a-tablet-to-750-overnight.html

Jack Rabbit

(45,984 posts)
34. The fantasies going through my head about what to do with this bastard
Mon Sep 21, 2015, 08:21 PM
Sep 2015

. . . would land me in big trouble with Agent Mike.

Response to tenderfoot (Original post)

polly7

(20,582 posts)
47. Twitter Shreds Drug Profiteer as Price Rise Scandal Goes National
Tue Sep 22, 2015, 10:29 AM
Sep 2015
“It really doesn’t make sense to get any criticism for this," Martin Shkreli said, unaware that it really does

By Scott Eric Kaufman / Salon September 21, 2015

http://www.alternet.org/personal-health/twitter-shreds-drug-profiteer-price-rise-scandal-goes-national?akid=13505.44541.4xMtp6&rd=1&src=newsletter1042811&t=14

Lots of righteous tweets ......... this guy is going to feel the wrath of the whole world. Sociopaths don't let this bother them though, he'll be fine.


Comments:

vladilyich • an hour ago

The company also made news last night on the CBC's "The National" in Canada. They did something almost as bad with another drug and raised the price 2000% over night. This was for a drug that's about the only thing to treat drug resistant TB and raised the price from $10 a dose to over $250. The thing that's different is that this drug is used for long-term treatment so a patient will end up paying close to a million dollars for the full course.

llozano • 33 minutes ago

Get used to this happening on a large scale if the TPP goes into effect. One of the biggest beneficiaries of the Trade deal will be pharmaceutical companies. They will be raking in billions of patents for medications here and abroad. It is a deal made in heaven for them.

Yes:

TPP Trade Deal Will Be Devastating for Access to Affordable Medicines

By Doctors Without borders
Source: Doctors Without Borders
February 2, 2015

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1016113174

Ten Reasons Why the TPP Must Be Defeated

http://www.commondreams.org/views/2014/12/31/ten-reasons-why-tpp-must-be-defeated


 

hifiguy

(33,688 posts)
51. Given what a gigantic ego and mouth this asshole has,
Tue Sep 22, 2015, 06:35 PM
Sep 2015

he might fall victim to a fatal "accident" sometime soon.

One would devoutly hope so, anyway.

Turbineguy

(37,212 posts)
52. The current winner
Tue Sep 22, 2015, 06:43 PM
Sep 2015

in the "Who's a Bigger Asshole Contest". I expect he will be unseated soon. I'm beginning to miss Hitler again.

Rosco T.

(6,496 posts)
53. This is one time I think a 'government takeover' would be justified...
Tue Sep 22, 2015, 07:21 PM
Sep 2015

seize the assets of the asshole and make sell it for what it costs, $1.

 

lonestarnot

(77,097 posts)
56. Hope he can afford plastic surgery off all that dough, because he's gona need much surgery to never
Tue Sep 22, 2015, 11:10 PM
Sep 2015

be recognized again. LOL

RR2

(87 posts)
59. Sheer fucking genius....
Wed Sep 23, 2015, 12:01 PM
Sep 2015

Great plan, raise the price so insanely high that when you finally agree to lower it back down "to a more affordable price". That price is now only going to be a mere 5 to 10 times higher than it was originally.

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