How much is too much? When it comes to raising the price of a drug that costs around US$1 to manufacture, a hike of more than 5,000% from $13.50 to $750 per dose is clearly above and beyond what any sane person would consider reasonable.
As if Turing Pharmaceuticals' price rise for Daraprim were not unpopular enough, the arrogant, condescending response of its CEO, Martin Shkreli, to criticism of the announcement instantly turned him into the most hated man in America and conceivably – thanks to the power of social media – the world.
Yes, pharma companies need to make money on today’s drugs to fund the development of tomorrow’s therapies, and yes, orphan drugs need to command a premium to be profitable because the patient population is by definition relatively small. But Daraprim is not a revolutionary new treatment: it has been on the market for more than 60 years and is used by a small but medically vulnerable group of patients.
An unintended consequence of Turing’s announcement has been to propel the whole question of the funding of US healthcare to the centre of the nascent presidential election campaign
An unintended consequence of Turing’s announcement has been to propel the whole question of the funding of US healthcare to the centre of the nascent presidential election campaign – something that will certainly not be welcomed by Big Pharma. The Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton has already unveiled plans to control prescription drug costs by forcing pharmaceutical companies to reinvest their profits into research and allowing for more lower cost generic and imported drugs.
It is unlikely ever to happen, of course, but the fact that this type of reform is even being mooted suggests that change may one day be possible. Although Shkreli has backed down and reduced the price of Daraprim again (without actually specifying what it will be), the damage has been done and drug prices in the US are now firmly on the political radar.
The global pharmaceutical industry's reputation among the general public was bad enough before this. Now, thanks to Shkreli, it’s reached a new low.
