Rival company offers $1 version of the drug pharma bro Martin Shkreli tried to sell for $750
Pharma CEO Martin Shkreli provoked outrage last month when he said he would be raising the price of Daraprim, a drug mainly used by HIV and cancer patients, from $13.50 per pill to $750 per pill.
All I care about is patients’ lives. Don’t get confused. A means to a better end is still a better end.
— Martin Shkreli (@MartinShkreli) October 21, 2015
Now, NBC News reports, a competitor to Shkreli’s Turing Pharmaceuticals said last night that they’ll soon be able to offer patients fighting parasitic infections like toxoplasmosis a very similar drug for just $1 per pill.
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Imprimis Pharmaceuticals, based in San Diego, can produce a similar drug because the patent on Daraprim expired decades ago, allowing other drug companies to produce their generic versions. In India, a generic version of the drug is available for less than ten cents per pill, the International Business Times reports.
The medicine that Imprimis wants to offer will be a combination of pyrimethamine (the main ingredient in Daraprim) and leucovorin, which counteracts some of the side effects of a cancer treatment.
After the backlash against his 5,000% increase on the drug last month, Shkreli partially reversed course and said Turing would still be increasing the cost of the drug but not by as much, without offering specifics.
Last week, Shrkeli was back in the news after Bernie Sanders turned down his public support and said he’ll give the $2,700 Shkreli donated to his campaign to a community health organization that works with HIV patients: