Epic fail

^^^^Bloody hell, almost as good as George Osborne. #economyrocks

There is no patent on this drug (Daraprim is the brand name for the generic drug pyrimethamine), surly someone could just step up and make a generic version (according to Wikipedia no one is)

If that's correct, then it's a double fail: He made himself look/is a total ass...and it won't gain him anything :)

There's some reason that makes that quite difficult which I'm not going to claim to really remember or understand. But I read it in some newspaper somewhere.

Ben goldacre explained why it is difficult to do so. Somthing about large set up costs and a small market but i cant quite remember

I'd guess one of the base components for it is grown and not readily available. If you can find a place the unusual microbes or whatever it needs grow then it's possible but without them it's not. Other variations might not be as pure or as strong. I remember seeing a thing saying that 90% of the worlds penicillin is cultivated from the original mould.

these have been popping up around town. because homelessness lol!

What's that website?

While the drug is off patent, I think it's because Turing purchased the rights to be the generic manufacturer in the US, this was when they purchased the rights from the other company.
It was at this point, they decided to increase the price.

There's not actually that many people who need the drug, it's only a risk if you've got a weakened immune system or are pregnant. A lot of people have it and it's not a big problem.

It just happens to affect quite a large, vocal, well motivated, politically active group. i.e. teh gayz.

I think deaths from Toxo are approx 4000 a year in the, but the infection rate is much much higher.
Toxo. What a great parasite.

citycalling.com ? (blocked in my office)

"Join the fastest growing career site that matches jobs to your personality & skills", apparently.

Urgh.

A well thought out marketing plan. I assume they're a great company that also sorts out the multitude of other obstacles between being homeless and getting a job.

Can you even have "rights to manufacture a generic" if the drug is out of patent? I thought out of patent means anyone can make it.

GSK are always looking for a bit of good publicity, they have the manufacturing facilities. They could run a few small batches. They could probably cover their costs at $2 a pill.

In the UK, Daraprim is available from GSK at a cost of U.S. $20 (£13) for 30 tablets (approx. $0.66 each).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyrimethamine

lols

GSK - Ship a load over under a different brand name.

(AFAIK Turing owns the brand Daraprim only and not any specific rights to be the sole seller of Pyrimetham­ine in the USA, @Chalfie may know different)

I think, and this is from 5 minutes of google fu and memory, that when they bought the company they bought the distribution rights. Which makes it difficult for other companies to get the drug to reverse engineer or something.

This guy says it better
http://blogs.sciencemag.org/pipeline/archives/2015/09/21/martin-shkreli-has-one-idea-and-its-a-bad-one#page-top

http://blogs.sciencemag.org/pipeline/archives/2014/09/12/thiola_retrophin_martin_shkrell_reddit_and_more

distribution rights.

That's to the brand Daraprim, not the drug Pyrimetham­ine.

Drug - Ibuprofen, brands - Advil, Motrin, and Nurofen. Anyone can make Ibuprofen, only the brand holders can sell it as Advil, Motrin, Nurofen etc.

EDIT;

I should have read your links....

The FDA grants market exclusivity to companies that are willing to take “grandfathered” compounds into compliance with their current regulatory framework,

BING

I'd be happy to buy a case and post it to an AID's charity, as the chap who has purchased the rights to Daraprim is such a charming chap.

Which would be illegal. The US has weird laws about importing pharmaceuticals with that big communist hell hole to the North offering pretty much everything at fractions of the cost.

Having said that, people (and in some cases, States) do it anyway. So there are probably ways.

You wouldn't want any SOCIALIST MEDICINE now would you...?

Caps, cos, it's exactly that crowd.

that is fucking incredible

Alibaba apparently.

http://www.alibaba.com/showroom/pyrimethamine.html

He also hates people with kidney stones.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/martin-shkreli-pharmaceuticals-ceo-who-raised-hiv-drug-price-by-5000-also-hiked-cost-of-pill-taken-by-children-with-incurable-kidney-disease-10513645.html