Don’t Like High Drug Prices? Blame the Government, Not the Market.

By Published on September 24, 2015

In the early 1950s, the Nobel Prize-winning scientist Gertrude Elion developed the drug Daraprim to combat malaria. Daraprim is now also used to fight toxoplasmosis, which infects people whose immune systems have been weakened by AIDS, chemotherapy and pregnancy. It’s such an important drug that it’s on the World Health Organization’s List of Essential Medicines, among the most important medications needed in a basic health system.

A single pill used to sell for $1, but the price was raised around 2010 to $13.50. Last week the price jumped 5,000 percent to $750 a tablet.

There was no shortage or other supply and demand factors that would justify the rapid price increase. Turing Pharmaceuticals had bought the drug from Impax Laboratories in August for $55 million and raised the price to cover their costs. Turing’s CEO Martin Shkreli said, “This isn’t the greedy drug company trying to gouge patients with higher drug prices, it is us trying to stay in business.”

Read the article “Don’t Like High Drug Prices? Blame the Government, Not the Market.” on blog.acton.org.

Print Friendly, PDF & Email

Like the article? Share it with your friends! And use our social media pages to join or start the conversation! Find us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, MeWe and Gab.

Inspiration
The Scarcity Mindset
Robert Morris
More from The Stream
Connect with Us