The drug industry wants us to think Martin Shkreli is a rogue CEO. He isn’t.

[Ichingcarpenter]

Three millennia ago in ancient Greece, a plant called autumn crocus was used to treat gout. A pill form of the active ingredient, colchicine, has been used to treat the illness in the United States since the 19th century.

But six years ago, a clinical trial showed the drug's safety and efficacy and URL Pharma was granted the exclusive marketing rights for a drug that had previously sold for 9 cents a tablet. The price shot up to $4.85 -- a more than 5,000 percent increase.

Sound familiar?

[A defining moment in modern health care.]

This week, a roiling controversy was ignited after Turing Pharmaceuticals chief executive Martin Shkreli hiked the price for his drug Daraprim by a mind-boggling 4,000 percent. The major pharmaceutical and biotech industry groups have portrayed Shkreli's actions as totally repugnant and the work of just one company, acting alone, with a flippant young chief executive who doesn't reflect the broader values, practices, or trends of other companies.

But it's not, as the colchicine case shows. Here's why:


http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonkblog/wp/2015/09/25/the-drug-industry-wants-us-to-think-martin-shkreli-is-a-rogue-ceo-he-isnt/

[peacebird]

1. K&R, the only drug I use has gone from $25 a month to $250 a month, and the 'generic' for it is

Less effective for me & $225 a month

[marmar]

2. K/R

They're literally killing people. Perhaps it's time to take this industry out of private, profit-motivated hands.

[Facility Inspector]

5. while they're at it

maybe they should take healthcare out of the insurance industry's private, profit-motivated hands.

Pharma knows insurance is flush with cash, they just want their cut.

[daleanime]

3. K&R.....

[Octafish]

4. Weird things happen when health care is rationed by ability to pay.

Weird rich people get to stay alive, for one.

[Ichingcarpenter]

6. Rockefellers we are not

- David Rockefeller's Sixth Heart Transplant Successful at Age 99 ... The man that has also had two kidney transplants in 1988 and 2004



The heart transplant surgery, which lasted 6 hours and was done by a team of private surgeons at his principal residence, on the family estate in Pocantico Hills, New York, doesn’t seem to have tired the legendary business man known for his dynamism and cunningness.

His first heart transplant occurred in 1976 after a dramatic car accident led him to suffer a heart attack. He was operated 24 hours later and up and jogging a week later.

«Every time I get a new heart, it is like the breath of life is swept across my body. I feel reenergized and alive» he told reporters.

Asked about the secret to his longevity, Mr Rockefeller explained a simple life is the way to go.

http://worldnewsdailyreport.com/david-rockefellers-sixth-heart-transplant-successful-at-age-99/

David Rockefeller/Net worth
3.2 billion USD
2015

[Octafish]

7. SIXTH heart transplant.

Invigorating indeed. The guy's a regular Nosferatu.

[Mnemosyne]

8. K&R! nt