Health
Kiyoshi Ota / Bloomberg / Getty Images
Turing Pharmaceuticals CEO Martin Shkreli said Tuesday night that the company will roll back the price of the drug Daraprim, a drug for treating a deadly parasitic infection.
The company had faced intense criticism after it raised the price of the 62-year-old drug from $13.50 to $750 after it purchased rights to the drug last month, which was first reported by The New York Times. The medication is used to treat for a parasitic infection that can be fatal to those with compromised immune systems due to conditions like AIDS/HIV and cancer, according to The Washington Post.
“We’ve agreed to lower the price on Daraprim to a point that is more affordable and is able to allow the company to make a profit, but a very small profit,” Shkreli told ABC News. “We think these changes will be welcomed.”
The final cost was still being determined.
Earlier in the day, PhRMA, the pharmaceutical industry's main lobbying group, sought to distance itself from Turing's move, posting on Twitter that the drugmaker "does not represent the values of PhRMA member companies."
Asked for further details, the lobby group noted that Turing is not one of its members, which include global drugmakers such as Merck, Pfizer (which has been accused of price gouging for an epilepsy drug) and Novartis. "Turing Pharmaceutical is not a member of PhRMA and we do not embrace either their recent actions or the conduct of their CEO.”
Shkreli had defended the price hike in an interview on CNBC saying that Daraprim had been priced too low and that his company needed to generate profits that it would spend on new research and development.
Asked if he would lower the price in response to the furor, Shkreli simply responded, "No."
Al Jazeera with wire services
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