Gas, 5% off with store card. T-shirt, 20% off with coupon. One $13.50 pill that saves a life, increa
- Sep 29, 2015
- 2 min read
We've all seen those internet memes, "faith in humanity restored" that usually follow so good deed that we all see and deem worth of redeeming our entire species. Well sometimes some unethical company led by an unethical douche of a CEO does something that has the opposite effect.
This ongoing story of coperate greed starts with the company Turning Pharmaceuticals (TP) their aformentioned brash CEO Martin Shkreli. TP recently bought the rights to the drug Daraprim, a treatment for toxoplasmosis. That long word means that a person is seccetpable to food born illnesses, common with people who have HIV. The drug use to cost a small sum of $13.50, but after being bought by TP the price raised overnnight to $750.
The insanse price increase has caused various new jernalists and blogger to to question the motives of Shkreli, he's response were less than professional:
The Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) and the HIV Medicine Association (HIVMA) have both written to TP asking them to reconsider the price, saying:
"Under the current pricing structure, it is estimated that the annual cost of treatment for toxoplasmosis, for the pyrimethamine component alone, will be $336,000 for patients who weigh less than 60 kilograms [132 pounds] and $634,500 for patients who weigh more than 60 kilograms [132 pounds],” the letter reads. “This cost is unjustifiable for the medically vulnerable patient population in need of this medication and unsustainable for the health-care system." Link
TP has yet to respond, but based on the responses given by the CEO I would not expect there to be anything meanful to come from Turning Pharmaceuticals or anyone from their organization.
I would urge everyone who reads this and agrees that this is an unethical abuse of power that will cause harm for nothing other than the sake of making money to share and continue the discussion, so that TP's unethical abuse will stay in the spotlight until they are forced to change.
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