AIDS-related Drug Daraprim Price Rise Overnight From $13.50 to $750 Stirs Outrage

Suddenly, the price of a drug boomed. Overnight, the cost of Daraprim rose from $13.50 to $750.

The Turing Pharmaceuticals, a startup, increased the price of the generic drug, Daraprim, which the company had acquired in August, said The New York Times .

The drug is used to treat toxoplasmosis. There is only the Daraprim treatment available for this illness, which is a leading reason for death due to "foodborne illnesses" in the U.S.

As it is caused by the Toxoplasma, it poses a threat to pregnant women, newborns infected through their mothers, HIV and cancer patients and those with weakened immune systems, explain the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Turing Pharmas bought Daraprim from Impax Laboratories and immediately boosted its price with a 5,500 percent price hike.

"Outrageous," tweeted Democratic presidential frontrunner Hillary Clinton.

Turing's CEO Martin Shkreli defended that it was required to make the company fund the development of better toxoplasmosis drugs, according to hngn.

Turing was immediately tackled by The Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) and the HIV Medicine Association (HIVMA) who wrote a joint letter early in September. They asked the company "to immediately revise the pricing strategy for the recently acquired drug."

"Pyrimethamine (generic name of Daraprim) is particularly important for the treatment of toxoplasmosis, a parasitic infection that has severe consequences if not effectively treated in pregnant women, patients with HIV infection, cancers and other conditions that compromise the immune system," the letter said.

They pointed out that the treatment cost for toxoplasmosis will soar to $336,000 per year, because of the Daraprim price increase. Hence, the rise in prices is not fair or justified, they said.

"This cost is unjustifiable for the medically vulnerable patient population in need of this medication and unsustainable for the health care system."

Countering all these points, Shkreli said that raising the price of Daraprim was necessary, as the drug was "underpriced relative to its peers." Hence, the new price would cover the costs in production, distribution, FDA and others.

"Those costs have increased dramatically over the years," he told Bloomberg.