Turing Says it Will Cut Daraprim Price
Turing Pharmaceutical, the company that sparked an angry backlash for raising the US price of Daraprim (pyrimethamine), a drug for treating the deadly parasitic infection toxoplasmosis – in combination with a sulfonamide – more than 50-fold has said it will drop the price again, but did not disclose by how much.
After obtaining marketing rights to the drug in the US – the only country in which it has been approved – from Impax Laboratories in August of this year, Turing hiked the price overnight from $13.50 per pill to $750.
“The acquisition of Daraprim and our toxoplasmosis research program are significant steps along Turing's path of bringing novel medications to patients with serious disorders, some of whom often go undiagnosed and untreated," Martin Shkreli, CEO and company founder, said when announcing the rights acquisition.
“We intend to invest in the development of new drug candidates that we hope will yield an even better clinical profile, and also plan to launch an educational effort to help raise awareness and improve diagnosis for patients with toxoplasmosis,” he added.
Shkreli told US media the new price would make the medication more accessible. “We've agreed to lower the price of Daraprim to a point that is more affordable and is able to allow the company to make a profit, but a very small profit," he said.
In particular because toxoplasmosis is most threatening to people with compromised immune systems such as HIV sufferers, as well as to pregnant women, the company has come in for sharp criticism from health professionals as well as the general public. Even presidential candidate Hillary Clinton weighed in, calling the hike “outrageous.”
