Surprise: Pharma Company behind $750 HIV medication changes mind, decides NOT to lower drug price as - Polidicks

[IMG]http://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/21692937894_d9e75a2af8_z1-640x360.jpg[/IMG] [QUOTE]Turing Pharmaceuticals AG will not reverse its decision to raise the price of a decades-old drug, Daraprim, by more than 5,000 percent, backing out of previous statements that it would cut the cost by the end of the year. In an announcement on Tuesday, the company said that the list price of Daraprim, which jumped from $13.50 a pill to $750 a pill earlier this year, will not change. Instead, the company will offer hospitals up to 50 percent discounts and will make other adjustments to help patients afford Daraprim, a drug used to treat a parasitic infection and often given to HIV patients.[/QUOTE] [URL="http://arstechnica.com/science/2015/11/750pill-pharma-company-reverses-decision-to-lower-drug-price/"]Source[/URL]

Not that it's an issue, didn't a rival pharma company already make a generic?

I thought pharmaceutical companies were supposed to help people, not hurt them.

[QUOTE=FunnyStarRunner;49188389]I thought pharmaceutical companies were supposed to help people, not hurt them.[/QUOTE] They're companies just like any other, they're after the big bucks even if they have to fuck over people to get it. Why do we not have government price controls on medication?

[QUOTE=BFG9000;49188371]Not that it's an issue, didn't a rival pharma company already make a generic?[/QUOTE] When the competition is charge $750 a pill that's easily done.

"Lying rich greedy cunt revealed to be lying, still greedy." I thought I'd go through life firmly set in mind that I'd never be a cannibal. But here I am, finding a man that I would, in fact, eat. Not [I]kill[/I], mind you. Nobody is making threats here, no sir, haha

[QUOTE=FunnyStarRunner;49188389]I thought pharmaceutical companies were supposed to help people, not hurt them.[/QUOTE] You're right, but that's the risk you run when you have privatized sectors that are responsible for the lives of people.

This is old news. Another company came out and said they're going to offer the drug for $7.50 anyway, not to mention since they inflated the price of said drug they've been bleeding losing money by the millions.

[QUOTE=SnakeHead;49188396]They're companies just like any other, they're after the big bucks even if they have to fuck over people to get it. Why do we not have government price controls on medication?[/QUOTE] It's government intervention that has created this issue in the first place. Turing Pharma is allowed, by the government, to maintain a monopoly on that kind of drug and prevent competitors from producing generic equivalents. Another company has announced they will be making an equivalent, sold for a hundredth of the price - so that's the market doing what it's supposed to do, but that company is not allowed to market their product as a generic. Thanks to the government.

Didn't they lose a lot of money already as it is?

[QUOTE=UncleJimmema;49188591]This is old news. Another company came out and said they're going to offer the drug for $7.50 anyway, not to mention since they inflated the price of said drug they've been bleeding losing money by the millions.[/QUOTE] Turing Pharma was already running a bigger loss in the quarter preceding when they bought the rights to the drug. It's a drug that is rarely used, so it wouldn't have dented their income by too much even if no user bought the drug.

What a smug arrogant cunt.

[QUOTE=elixwhitetail;49188419]"Lying rich greedy cunt revealed to be lying, still greedy." I thought I'd go through life firmly set in mind that I'd never be a cannibal. But here I am, finding a man that I would, in fact, eat. Not [I]kill[/I], mind you. Nobody is making threats here, no sir, haha[/QUOTE] what the fuck? dude's a cunt, sure, but admitting you would like to cannibalize him is just weird as hell.

[QUOTE=Boaraes;49188826]what the fuck? dude's a cunt, sure, but admitting you would like to cannibalize him is just weird as hell.[/QUOTE] I dunno, man. I could get behind a plate of Shkrelli. You'd have to season him pretty heavily to mask the taste of greasy weasel cunt, though.

[QUOTE=Big Dumb American;49188877]I dunno, man. I could get behind a plate of Shkrelli. You'd have to season him pretty heavily to mask the taste of greasy weasel cunt, though.[/QUOTE] gross

[QUOTE=SnakeHead;49188396]They're companies just like any other, they're after the big bucks even if they have to fuck over people to get it. Why do we not have government price controls on medication?[/QUOTE] Lucky for us, we're probably the only country in the world with regulations preventing us from regulating pharm prices. It's illegal for a federal agency to set any kind of price controls on any pharmaceutical, regardless of where it comes from or what it is. No wonder people near the Canada border regularly go over the border to get medicine from Canadian pharmacies, which is illegal as well but rarely enforced. It's sad, the official reasoning as to why getting medicine from other countries is illegal, is because of "public health and safety." There's a huge issue when some people have the choice of either going bankrupt, dying of a horrible disease that could be treated, or becoming a minor criminal for getting medicine over the border to avoid the first two options.

[QUOTE=Karmah;49188665]Didn't they lose a lot of money already as it is?[/QUOTE] They made 5.2 million dollars last quarter, 14 million dollars below operating costs. Is Turing a public company?

given the whole "they lost a lot of money on it" deal surrounding this, I wouldn't be surprised if they realized they couldn't compete with the generic competitor at that point and counted it as a loss, so he decided to do this as a big childish last laugh

Charging for medical care is evil beyond my comprehension but of course these kinds of people don't mind condemning others to pain or death :(

[QUOTE=Antdawg;49188651]It's government intervention that has created this issue in the first place. Turing Pharma is allowed, by the government, to maintain a monopoly on that kind of drug and prevent competitors from producing generic equivalents. Another company has announced they will be making an equivalent, sold for a hundredth of the price - so that's the market doing what it's supposed to do, but that company is not allowed to market their product as a generic. Thanks to the government.[/QUOTE] That's cool and all but has nothing to do with my question, which was about price controls. If these were in place none of what you said would matter.

[QUOTE=SnakeHead;49189245]That's cool and all but has nothing to do with my question, which was about price controls. If these were in place none of what you said would matter.[/QUOTE] What you had proposed also wouldn't matter if the government allowed for competition. If there had always been a generic equivalent allowed to be marketed and sold, none of this would have ever happened. Turing Pharma wouldn't have raised the price, and probably wouldn't have even acquired the drug, because users would just move to using the cheaper generic equivalent. 'Price controls' are always a bad idea. For instance, price ceilings create a perverse incentive for sellers to price the good right up to the ceiling and never go lower. They create the impression that the price ceiling is the highest socially acceptable price, which can also facilitate cartels forming; undermining the price competitiveness of the market.

[QUOTE=FunnyStarRunner;49188389]I thought pharmaceutical companies were supposed to help people, not hurt them.[/QUOTE] You thought wrong. They exist to make a profit, helping sick people is just a product of their business. But when you're competing with the Grim Reaper himself, you don't exactly need to keep prices low, you already have an upper hand.

[QUOTE=Antdawg;49188651]It's government intervention that has created this issue in the first place. Turing Pharma is allowed, by the government, to maintain a monopoly on that kind of drug and prevent competitors from producing generic equivalents. Another company has announced they will be making an equivalent, sold for a hundredth of the price - so that's the market doing what it's supposed to do, but that company is not allowed to market their product as a generic. Thanks to the government.[/QUOTE] No, they bought the marketing rights to an old drug. For whatever reason no one has stepped up to make a generic, so they can charge whatever the hell they want. Turing is possibly exploiting some FDA loophole that allows them to restrict circulation of the drug so that other manufacturers can't get a hold of samples to prove bioequivalence. Either that or no one really cares to go through the process of generic approval because it's such a small market. [editline]26th November 2015[/editline] [QUOTE=dai;49189144]given the whole "they lost a lot of money on it" deal surrounding this, I wouldn't be surprised if they realized they couldn't compete with the generic competitor at that point and counted it as a loss, so he decided to do this as a big childish last laugh[/QUOTE] They're a pharmaceutical startup. That they have any revenue stream at all is an added bonus.

Can someone kill this CEO cunt before he fucks up people even more

[QUOTE=Antdawg;49189290]What you had proposed also wouldn't matter if the government allowed for competition. If there had always been a generic equivalent allowed to be marketed and sold, none of this would have ever happened. Turing Pharma wouldn't have raised the price, and probably wouldn't have even acquired the drug, because users would just move to using the cheaper generic equivalent. 'Price controls' are always a bad idea. For instance, price ceilings create a perverse incentive for sellers to price the good right up to the ceiling and never go lower. They create the impression that the price ceiling is the highest socially acceptable price, which can also facilitate cartels forming; undermining the price competitiveness of the market.[/QUOTE] Which then leads to my last question, why are all other basic services necessary for a society to exist (Police, Fire, etc) all government controlled but Healthcare is not? Fucking ridiculous.

[QUOTE=Boaraes;49188826]what the fuck? dude's a cunt, sure, but admitting you would like to cannibalize him is just weird as hell.[/QUOTE] I didn't say I [I]want[/I] to eat his flesh, but that it's something I [I]could[/I] see myself doing if the event ever came about (once again no death threats haha). His own actions have reduced his value as a human that much in my eyes that food would be a more practical use for him than his current position in life. [QUOTE=Big Dumb American;49188877]I dunno, man. I could get behind a plate of Shkrelli. You'd have to season him pretty heavily to mask the taste of greasy weasel cunt, though.[/QUOTE] I'd rather eat greasy weasel cunt than Shkrelli, but this isn't WTYO, heyooooo But, I mean, the phrase "eat the rich" came from somewhere, right?

[QUOTE=SnakeHead;49188396]Why do we not have government price controls on medication?[/QUOTE] Lobbying. When you let companies in a multi-billion dollar industry hire consultants to convince politicians to not regulate this sort of thing, this is the result. The pharmaceutical industry has spent a total of $3.2 billion on lobbying between 1998 and 2015 ([URL="http://www.opensecrets.org/lobby/top.php?showYear=a&indexType=i"]source[/URL]).

[QUOTE=elixwhitetail;49189591]I didn't say I [I]want[/I] to eat his flesh, but that it's something I [I]could[/I] see myself doing if the event ever came about (once again no death threats haha). His own actions have reduced his value as a human that much in my eyes that food would be a more practical use for him than his current position in life. I'd rather eat greasy weasel cunt than Shkrelli, but this isn't WTYO, heyooooo But, I mean, the phrase "eat the rich" came from somewhere, right?[/QUOTE] Dude you're weird

[QUOTE=SnakeHead;49189495]Which then leads to my last question, why are all other basic services necessary for a society to exist (Police, Fire, etc) all government controlled but Healthcare is not? Fucking ridiculous.[/QUOTE] By that logic we should nationalize the food industry, the housing industry, the water industry, the oil industry, the auto industry, etc. They're all necessary for our modern society to exist. Realistically most necessary things aren't provided by the government.

[QUOTE=sgman91;49189734]By that logic we should nationalize the food industry, the housing industry, the water industry, the oil industry, the auto industry, etc. They're all necessary for our modern society to exist. Realistically most necessary things aren't provided by the government.[/QUOTE] Except a plate of food doesn't require years of research and testing, and usually isn't required by one specific type of person with one specific condition. That pill (until the other company brought out the generic) was probably the [I]only[/I] option for many people with HIV, and that's what's so scummy. If McDonald's suddenly started selling Big Macs for $750, people would just buy something else. People trying to get this drug don't have that choice. [editline]26th November 2015[/editline] [QUOTE=SnakeHead;49188396]They're companies just like any other, they're after the big bucks even if they have to fuck over people to get it. [B]Why do we not have government price controls on medication?[/B][/QUOTE] Watch out Chairman Mao, that sounds like communism to me!