A 5,455 percent price increase? Expect more of it
After Pope Francis's visit to the U.S., possibly the biggest news item this week has been the depraved price increase that Turing Pharmaceuticals posted for its drug, Daraprim. Although the 5,455 percent that Turing hiked Daraprim's price is astounding, the absolute daily price is less than that of many other drugs and the practice of gouging prices on specialty drugs is consistent with practices across the industry.
Daraprim is actually a 62-year old generic, pyrimethamine, used for treating a parasitic infection that hits patients whose immune systems have been compromised by conditions such as AIDS or cancer. Prior to Turing's wanton price increase, pyrimethamine sold for a cost of $13.50 a day. Generics companies stopped making and selling the medication because it did not offer them sufficient profit at that price. Without any competitors, Turing CEO Martin Shkreli saw an opportunity to exercise monopoly-pricing power.
Despite the huge percentage increase, Daraprim's daily price of $750 is still less than those of several other brands such as the infamous Sovaldi for hepatitis-C, listed by Gilead at $1,000 a day. Although the deal price for some of those brands can amount to 20-30 percent less than the list, and even Shkreli says he will moderate Daraprim's price in response to public outrage, the fact remains that drug prices across the board have been soaring.
On Tuesday, analyst Vincent Meunier at Morgan Stanley reminded investors that prescription drug spending in the U.S. is now almost 16 percent of total healthcare spending and has grown by more than 13 percept this year, far more than the 6.8 percent average rise during each of the past five years.
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I'm so sick of big business sucking us dry. 
Making insane profit off of people's illness is depraved. Making profit off of locking up citizens for minor charges is depraved. Our food system is abysmal. Produce is one of the most expensive departments in the grocery store. People work 60+ hours a week & don't have time to cook decent food. They don't have time to exercise. Most workplaces don't provide any help in the way of workout areas, or the time during the workday to actually fit a workout in. Hardly any companies provide help with daycare. I'm thinking of all the business parks I have worked in over the years & I have never seen a daycare center in one of them. ??? We are just comodoties to them. We suffer the health consequences of their greed & they they suck us dry when we're sick. American is the exact opposite of a Christian nation. We are a you-are-on-you're-own, dog-eat-dog, anything-for-a-buck nation.
Also, I hate republicans.
I also hate republicans. Mean bastards all.
