Earlier this month, relatively few people within the healthcare community, patient advocacy movement and frankly the general public probably knew much about the drug Daraprim (pyrimethamine). Not anymore! The drug, along with the pharmaceutical company that recently purchased the rights to sell it, Turing Pharmaceuticals, was transformed into a household name overnight. A 5000% price increase can have that sort of effect.
Turing Pharmaceutical's young CEO, Martin Shkreli, didn't help his new company's PR nightmare with some of his initial comments. But it is Mr. Shkreli who will most likely be responsible for the increased scrutiny over pharmaceutical drug pricing, and the process behind it. Stakeholders -- including physicians, pharmacists, healthcare professionals, pharmaceutical companies, patients -- can have honest disagreements over the issue of drug pricing, and each side has very valid merits behind their respective arguments. What happened with the Daraprim price hike is something entirely different, and even more troubling.
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| Source: Business Insider |
The National Alliance of State & Territorial AIDS Directors (NASTAD) immediately pounced on the decision, writing a letter to the Health Resources and Services Administration's Office of Pharmacy Affairs. The NASTAD letter sounded the alarm on behalf of patients living with HIV/AIDS across the country, since the drug is commonly prescribed under the AIDS Drug Assistance Programs (ADAPs). Several ADAPs have reportedly experienced difficulty in acquiring Daraprim at the discounted 340B price.
"It is apparent that Turing has violated HRSA’s non-discrimination requirements for the 340B program, and NASTAD believes that this discriminatory restriction on purchasing at the 340B price is ongoing. NASTAD requests that HRSA investigates Turing’s violations of the non-discrimination requirement and imposes appropriate penalties," argued NASTAD's Executive Director, Murray Penner. [1]
A full version of the letter can be read here.
The Human Rights Campaign's CEO, condemned Mr. Shkreli and Turing Pharmaceuticals. The HRC statement read, "Your greed in raising the single-pill price from less than $15 to more than $750 is unconscionable. It immediately puts at risk scores of medically vulnerable people, including those living with HIV, and women who are pregnant. Medical organizations have estimated that this predatory move could increase the average cost per year for an adult patient reliant on the drug to more than $630,000." [2]
A full version of the letter can be read here.
The news media smelled blood, and they too focused their attention on the issue. "PRICE GOUGING CEO NOW TARGETING AIDS DRUG ASSISTANCE PROGRAMS," read the headline by the popular online news magazine, HIVEqual. Even business-oriented news outlets couldn't resist raising the red flag, evidenced by "Drug companies are reeling after the Martin Shkreli incident — and it could shake up the entire industry," published by Business Insider.
And of course, Twitter lit up like a Christmas tree. The following are just a few of the hundreds of thousands of the Tweets screaming about the 5000% price increase:
Ironically, there are only approximately 8,000 Daraprim prescriptions filled annually. [3] But that shouldn't matter, and it most certainly doesn't matter to the patients who rely on those prescriptions.
Turing Pharmaceuticals has already back-tracked from its absurd price hike, but the damage is done and lawmakers from both political parties will surely seek to tame the 800-pound gorilla in the room. The egregious example set by Mr. Shkreli must lead to an open, honest dialogue about the cost of health care in this country -- including drug pricing, insurance companies gouging patients, and even the shortcomings of the publicaly-financed health programs in this country. It should be a conversation that the advocacy community can come together with one, unified voice!
[1] National Alliance of State & Territorial AIDS Directors, "NASTAD ASKS FOR FEDERAL INVESTIGATION IN RESPONSE TO DARAPRIM PRICING AND ACCESS," September 22, 2015.
[2] Human Rights Campaign, "HRC President Chad Griffin Calls on Drug Manufacturer to Roll Back Unconscionable 5000 percent Price Hike On Life-Saving Treatment," September 22, 2015.
[3] The New York Times, "Drug Goes From $13.50 a Tablet to $750, Overnight," September 20, 2015.
10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 IGNITION - thank you Mr Shkreli for truly shining a very bright light on this much bigger issue! David Poole, AHF
ReplyDeleteThe advocacy community needs to demand of every candidate for federal office that they explain what they intend to do to curb skyrocketing drug prices and insure that all Americans have affordable access to essential medicines. It is crucial that we soon start confronting every candidate for President, Senator and Representative, and force both parties to deal with drug and insurance costs in their platforms. Shkreli is a minnow, we need to look at the great white sharks who have been doing the same price gouging on a less noticeable scale by stretching their increases incrementally.
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