Live-saving medicine needs to be available for all income brackets
Photo: CC Tom-Varco
Martin Shkreli, the CEO of Turing Pharmaceuticals, bought the rights to Daraprim, a drug that is used to treat toxoplasmosis, some forms of cancer, and HIV/AIDS in late August. On Sept. 21, Shkreli publically announced a price hike from US$13.50 to $750, just over a 5000 per cent mark-up. Shkreli was then skewered publicly by medical experts, politicians, and the general public
Shkreli quickly became dubbed “the most hated man in America” due to the price hike as well as his non-apologetic comments made on Twitter. One week after his initial announcement, Shkreli gave into the pressure, stating the price will be reduced, giving no exact figure.
Although at first glance Shkreli seems to deserve every bit of criticism thrown his way, he’s just a small part of a larger problem that has plagued the American pharmaceutical industry for some time. The issue of price raises has also affected the Canadian market, most recently with an increase in the price of Cycloserine, a drug used to treat tuberculosis, according to the CBC.
Although as CEO he has a duty to make his company profitable, with this decision Shkreli has failed to consider patients who won’t be able to afford the new price tag. The real issue is that he was legally allowed to increase prices by such an astronomical amount, something that has long been deemed illegal in most first world countries but continues to plague the American medical industry.
The Daraprim case only highlights the symptoms of a flawed healthcare system, which is why anger needs to be directed at those in a position to change the current standards.
This isn’t the first time a pharmaceutical drug has seen its price increase after being bought out. In fact, when Daraprim was bought out by CorePharma in 2010, that company increased the prices just as quickly as Turing did.
When it comes to healthcare, and life-saving drugs in particular, price should be determined by ability to pay, not profitability. As some social media users called for a boycott of the product, one Reddit user pointed out how you can’t really boycott a life-saving product.
The federal government and the Federal Drug Administration need to place reasonable limits on pharmaceutical products and provide subsidies to ensure companies like Turing can’t abuse the system.
A patient’s personal income shouldn’t affect whether or not they have access to the medicine they need. It’s time the government put measures in place to stop the abuse of pharmecutical industry.
