Turing Pharmaceutical CEO Martin Shkreli defends $750 for Daraprim pill
Exec says he will keep to pledge to lower price of 60-year-old drug, but does not say by how much or when.
Turing Pharmaceuticals CEO Martin Shkreli on Friday defended, without apology, his decision to up the price of the drug Daraprim from $3.50 a pill to $750, during an online interview Friday at MedCityCews.com.
Earlier this week Shkreli caved to criticism and said he would lower the price. On Friday he reiterated that decision but did not say by how much or when it would happen.
He would not give in to "lynch mobs," Shkreli said, or make a quick decision by the seat of his pants. He's owned the drug for only a couple of months and it was as yet hard to predict profitability, he said.
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The interview centered as much on Shkreli's self-described iconoclastic personality as the drug increase, with commenters suggesting comments he's made have fueled the pharma controversy and his moniker as the most hated man in America.
His interview did nothing to assuage criticism.
"I couldn't care less," Shkreli said. "People want to see CEOs who are 62-years-old in a suit and tie, not 32-year-olds (who are) iconoclastic."
He said he supported presidential candidate's Hillary Clinton's health plan – Clinton spoke against what she called "price gouging" after the Daraprim increase – and said he was CEO who did not take a salary.
"I have a zero salary," Shkreli said, adding the average pharmaceutical CEO salary is in the millions.
John Carroll from FierceBiotech said Shkreli's calling attention to pharmaceutical prices has terrified the industry, as stock prices have taken a tumble.
Chris Seper of MedCity News said Shkreli is the face of the public's broader frustration over healthcare prices.
Luke Timmerman from the Timmerman Report said most people would not call $750 for 60-year-old drug reasonable.
Shkreli said the price increase for Daraprim would not increase the cost for consumers, as premiums would not rise for a drug that represents 0.1 percent of costs in a $500 billion dollar pharmaceutical industry.
"The idea that this price increase is going to make anyone's healthcare less affordable ridiculous," he said.
Shkreli was asked how he came up with the $750 price.
"It's not excessive at all," he said. "If you add-in all of the costs of what we're doing, $750 gets us to a break-even point."
Turing will not earn an excessive profit on Daraprim, Shkreli pledged, also indicating Turing would be going public in an initial public offering.
"We're going to change the world for toxoplasmosis," he said. "It will take a lot of capital."
An increase is needed to improve a 60-year-old drug that has side effects so serious 40 percent of patients don't finish the therapy, he said.
Daraprim treats toxoplasmosis, a parasitic infection. The drug is considered life-saving for those with weakened immune systems, such as AIDS patients and those with cancer.
"There's not one pharmaceutical company that's in the rare infectious disease space," he said. "No one has a passion for these medicines that are 50- or 60-years-old. What happens when we have to rely on drugs like penicillin to treat MRSA?"
Twitter: @SusanMorseHFN
