Over the past few months, we have been covering the story of Turing Pharmaceuticals and their CEO Martin Shkreli, also known as “pharma bro”. Shkreli quickly jacked up the price of an old drug from $13.50 a pill to $750 after new studies revealed that it could treat a number of different conditions. His decision faced a massive media and public backlash that resulted in a PR nightmare for the company.
Luckily, It took roughly one month for a competitor to come on the scene and offer a lower price, and now Turing has recently reported a $14.6 million net loss for the most recent fiscal quarter.
In a statement announcing their losses, Turing admitted that the price of their controversial drug called Daraprim was likely one of the reasons for their bad quarter.
With respect to Daraprim®, after consulting with patient advocacy groups and infectious disease doctors, Turing understands that toxoplasmosis patients are primarily concerned with timely access and minimal out-of-pocket costs. We are committed to continuing the expansion of our distribution partnerships in order to facilitate optimal patient access. In addition to participation in federal and state programs with costs as low as 1 penny per pill, and patient savings programs under which patients’ out-of-pocket expenses do not exceed $10 per prescription, Turing contributes to Patient Services, Inc. (PSI), a longstanding independent charity that provides support for financially needy patients’ cost-sharing obligations for any toxoplasmosis therapies, consistent with PSI’s advisory opinion from the HHS Office of Inspector General. In order to better address the needs of physicians and patients, Turing will be introducing a 30-count bottle to address the needs of hospitals as well as a sample package to ensure physicians have timely and affordable access to therapy in emergency situations.
This statement carries a totally different attitude from the one that Turing and Shkreli had when the controversy surrounding Daraprim first hit the news. Initially, the company and its CEO were arrogant and careless about the consequences of their actions, but now they are offering to lower the price because they faced a massive backlash that threatened their bottom line. To complicate things further for Turing, they were faced with immediate competition because the drug was old enough to where it was not patentable. Meaning that Turning could not file for a government granted monopoly privilege in the form of copyright.
When Shkreli made the decision to drastically raise the price of Daraprim, he was thinking that he was making a good business decision. However, his plan was shortsighted and did not take into consideration how the market would react to such a massive increase. In the long run, it was actually a bad business decision for Shkreli to let his greed get the best of him.
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John Vibes is an author and researcher who organizes a number of large events including the Free Your Mind Conference. He also has a publishing company where he offers a censorship free platform for both fiction and non-fiction writers. You can contact him and stay connected to his work at his Facebook page. You can purchase his books, or get your own book published at his website www.JohnVibes.com.
