Tuberculosis drug price jumps 2,000%, shocks doctors

[LiberalArkie]

Source: CBC News | Health

Front-line tuberculosis doctors in Canada were recently sticker shocked that the price of an essential medication for drug-resistant TB went through the roof for no apparent reason.

Cycloserine is a critical drug used to treat a rare and dangerous form of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis.

Overnight in North America, cycloserine went from $15 US per pill to $360 US.

"Everyone in the TB community in North America has been going crazy over the last week or so when they realized the price had gone up by over 2,000 per cent," said Amir Attaran, a professor of law and medicine at the University of Ottawa who specializes in drug policy.

SNIP

Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/news/health/tb-drug-price-cycloserine-1.3237868

[BumRushDaShow]

1. Seems they are doing a coordinated test

to see how far they can go before being slapped back.

[forest444]

95. Bingo.

I think that's the best explanation I've seen so far for what's behind this.

Think of it: laundered drug money being used to deprive people of life-saving medicine. It doesn't get much more evil than this, folks.

[BumRushDaShow]

97. The speculators

have lost big time in crude (at least for the short term), so they have to find some other product to use as a commodity, in order to artificially run the prices up to make a profit.... and then they'll move on to something else.

Every good, service, or person, is considered to be "fiat currency" with a value set to a price that benefits the speculator.

[tecelote]

2. Don't they realize that this is going to create an ungodly profit!

In most cases, insurance pays for it so what's the beef?

Profit over people. It's the American way!

[LiberalArkie]

4. My part D medicare would probably have a $500 copay on it. They have been doing it a lot.

When I was working my company insurance had a $85 a month copay on Nexium.

[LeftOfWest]

3. Horseshit. Doctors are not shocked.

they have played along since racist reagan.

'welfare queens drinking vodka in cadillacs'.

mds since 1984 are fine with that.

no more.

pay up now.

[Erich Bloodaxe BSN]

5. $%^%^&ing hedge funders.

It's part of a trend in the pharmaceutical industry of small companies buying up old, off-patent drugs and jacking up the price.

Dr. Dina Fisher, medical director of the Calgary Tuberculosis Centre, originally thought an email about the price increase of cycloserine must have been a typo.

"It's people coming from hedge funds," said Attaran. 'It is people looking to make a quick buck."

The patent on cycloserine expired long ago. Elsewhere in the world, it sells for 22 cents US a pill. It is considered an essential medicine by the World Health Organization.

[tecelote]

7. Yes. And in our free enterprise system...

it's illegal to buy prescription drugs from outside the US.

Government screwing Americans in the name of profit... again!

[Javaman]

10. someone needs to go cough on them. nt

[HereSince1628]

11. Valuing health as priceless is as great a problem to free-market capitalism as monopolies

Which is a good argument why healthcare shouldn't be a part of the lassize-faire markets.

Life is sold as too valuable to limit by price so survival as a value really cannot be a useful denominator in a cost-benefit consideration of the valuation of any therapy.

The price of all medical services should be capped at costs plus a controlled, but fair return on investment compared to other skilled services.

[Divernan]

17. Hedge fund owners? Like you-know-who's son-in-law?

[drm604]

58. Who?

Seriously, you're talking about something I'm not aware of. Who's son-in-law?

[LiberalElite]

88. My guess is they're referring to

Chelsea Clinton's husband, a hedge fund founder : (Title: For Clintons, a Hedge Fund in the Family)

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/23/business/dealbook/for-clintons-a-hedge-fund-in-the-family.html?_r=0

[drm604]

92. She can hardly be blamed for who her daughter married.

I say that as a Bernie Sanders supporter.

[LiberalElite]

93. I didn't make the connection either -

could be there isn't any.

[jwirr]

60. Yes. Although I have be idea if he is one of them doing this.

That is also why she has come out with a plan that does nothing to solve this part of the problem.

While big pharma continually blames research for the rising cost of drugs this is not one of those cases. This is market driven.

[graegoyle]

70. This is not market-driven: This is greed-driven.

[jwirr]

71. I equate one with the other.

[raouldukelives]

19. There are those with empathy for the sick and suffering.

And there are those who love money more than starting down the path of becoming a semi-decent human being.

[appalachiablue]

72. It is Hedge Fund predatory vultures buying up older, off patent drugs as you say.

And pure price gouging as Andrea Mitchell just discussed on MSNBC with Larry Summers of all people. It was also brought up that if drug cos. don't make don't make enough Profit $$ (horror!) they won't continue their research. Corruption Inc.

[louis-t]

73. As I said in another post yesterday....

Be on the lookout for copycats, and here it is. This will get much worse before it gets better.

[GitRDun]

76. This has been the problem ever since finance people started getting a seat at the big kids table

in corporate America.

The only value many of them add is financial.

They can't develop a product, come up with a manufacturing efficiency, etc.

What they can do is find ways to make money that do not involve the manufacturing process or consumer market preferences.

Corporate America has eaten it up because financial people have given corporate leaders the lazy way to make more money every time.

Our culture is broken.

We've forgotten how to be great.

This doesn't change until we realize just how broken we are.

The only solution, given the culture we operate in, is single payer where the government, on behalf of consumers has total control over consumption, e.g., they have enough leverage to shut this stuff down. The only problem with this solution is the possibility of collusion.

[restorefreedom]

6. they are trying to make cash

before pres. sanders puts the brakes on all this bullshit.

they know bernie is going to win!

and then the hammer comes down.....

[BumRushDaShow]

9. "before pres. sanders puts the brakes on all this bullshit"

and how is he going to do this? Executive Orders cannot do such.

The U.S. is not a dictatorship (which is maybe unfortunate in this instance).

[restorefreedom]

18. i believe

that depts of commerce, hhs, and fda are all executive. might give a presidemt some latitude.

[BumRushDaShow]

24. Um no.

FDA has nothing to do with pricing and neither does the Dept. of Commerce.

In order to do price controls you either need legislation (from the missing entity in your response - Congress) that allows the Executive to create regulations to enforce such (like what happened with the oil price controls way back) or you need to subsidize the industry (like is currently done with commodities like milk or via grants that are appropriated by Congress to NIH to fund research in exchange for drug development/availabilty) to keep the prices down in this "capitalistic" vulturistic country. Recall the history of "Medicare Part D" under Shrub.

Bernie Sanders can stamp his feet and beat his chest and thump a podium and they will just laugh.

[restorefreedom]

26. no problem

do you really believe that the wave that is gonna sweep bernie into the presidency is not also going to take casualties from Congress? Dems will have the Senate and will make series inroads in the house as well. That will affect with the legislature can do

[BumRushDaShow]

31. It will take time

Roosevelt needed super-majorities to get some of this type of legislation enacted. And notably in this modern era, the GOP uses every trick in the book to block. Case in point - we are about to have a government shutdown... again... unless sanity prevails.

[restorefreedom]

37. i hope

people are getting tired of their crappy games. i wish some of these wing nuts would get primaried by sane people. but we know the party has been taken over by lunatics....i suppose when moderate repubs like chafee leave and become d/I, that leaves a greater proportion of crazies in the gop. makes it harder to find a sane candidate.

the crazy snowball keeps heading down.....

[BumRushDaShow]

41. We have to make sure to vote in our State, County & Municipal elections

and pack the state legislatures/governorships before we get to 2020, so that we can control the redistricting for the federal elections. Time is running out!

I heard this morning on talk radio (SiriusXM's Joe Madison) that today is "National Voter Registration Day" and I expect the M$M will have not a peep about it.

[restorefreedom]

48. oh, for sure

m$m will be blathering on about the latest trump/carson swipe at (ethnic/religious group)

yes good point about the local and state races. they all matter.

[BumRushDaShow]

52. Here in PA, after having a loon governor and legislature

Just having the one Democrat elected as governor and installed this past January (Tom Wolf) - was enough to keep a lot of the crazy shit at bay. Now we have to work on taking back one of the legislative branches so that we can get the Marcellus shale companies taxed and get funding for the schools restored.

[restorefreedom]

55. good to know that each step

is making a difference.

and yes, we gotta keep it going...no more bat shit crazies!

[7962]

8. Dont expect Martin Shkreli to drop any of his prices. HE is the instigator of this.

And yes, I am obsessed with getting the word out about this man. I've been aware of his criminal unethical acts for years. I want to expose his name to everyone. Maybe if thousands of people send complaints to the SEC they will FINALLY do something about him. And its not just his price increases, he is a big time manipulator of smaller companies stock that he short sells.

[alcina]

15. I just looked him up

Hadn't heard of him before. Wow. What a horrible human being! Thank you for your efforts to expose him.

[a kennedy]

25. You read this article I'm sure....Meet the millionaire finance bro under attack for raising a cancer

drug's price by 5,000%

Today’s New York Times carries a blood-boiling story about Turing Pharmaceuticals, a young startup that acquired Daraprim, a critical drug used to treat parasitic infections in cancer and AIDS patients—among others with compromised immune systems—and immediately raised the price of the drug from $13.50 to $750 per pill. (A more than 5,000% increase!) The steep price hike for Daraprim, the Times found, has brought the the annual cost of treating these diseases “to hundreds of thousands of dollars” for some patients, and put the drug out of reach of some hospitals in low-income neighborhoods. According to medical experts quoted by the Times, there’s no change in what the drug does, or how it works—the increase in price is simply attributable to Turing’s desire to make more money.

The man at the center of the Daraprim fiasco is Turing’s founder and CEO, a 32-year-old former hedge fund manager named Martin Shkreli. Shkreli is not a stranger to controversy. In fact, a closer look at his investing career reveals a brash, hyper-ambitious finance bro who quotes the Wu-Tang Clan, bashes his enemies on Twitter, and will seemingly do almost anything to get rich.

According to a 2014 Bloomberg Businessweek profile, Shkreli began his Wall Street career as a 17-year-old intern for CNBC’s Jim Cramer, where he impressed the boss by recommending a savvy short trade, betting that the price of a biotech stock would fall. (Maybe too savvy—the SEC would later investigate whether he’d made the bet based on inside information, although the agency never pursued any formal actions.)

After his stint with Cramer, Shkreli then opened up his own hedge fund, and began betting against biotech and pharmaceutical companies, a practice known as short-selling. He often accompanied his bets with scathing blog posts on financial blogs like SeekingAlpha, accusing the companies he was shorting of having major problems. This behavior led to his public scolding from groups like Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, which accused Shkreli of “spreading unfounded and inaccurate rumors about drugs owned by companies he was shorting” in order to increase the value of his short positions. (The group urged the Department of Justice to investigate Shkreli; no charges were ever filed.)

http://fusion.net/story/200779/martin-shkreli-cancer-drug-finance-bro/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=fusion8&utm_content=8&utm_term=fusion-newsletter-201260

[7962]

34. He's also tried to get Navidea's breast cancer diagnostic blocked from approval.

he heavily shorted the stock then wrote an article full of falsehoods which caused the stock to crash. The drug did get approval, but it cost a lot of time and money, not to mention the lost value to the company
And as the article you refer to says, CREW has filed complaints against him but the SEC has done nothing to stop him.
he needs to be in jail

[PersonNumber503602]

99. The more I read/hear about that guy, the more I want to punch him in his stupid face.

I rarely ever get to that point with people, but that guy is a disgusting shit.

[7962]

101. Here's a write up from his former girlfriend:

A little racy, depending on how you are, but she illustrates how big of an ass he is

http://www.brobible.com/life/article/martin-shkrelis-ex-girlfriend-10k/


And I FULLY agree with your sentiment. To the point where I would actually pay money to someone to beat him and tell him it will happen every time he rips someone off.

[Overseas]

40. Martin Shkreli is so very cruel. I just wish there were regulations to prevent him from doing this

His actions turn all of the defenses of For Profit Medicine on their heads. Now we know what can happen with weak regulation of pharmaceutical companies.

[7962]

57. Here's an article calling him Pharma's "biggest asshole"

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/09/21/martin-shkreli-is-big-pharma-s-biggest-asshole.html?source=socialflow&via=twitter_page&account=thedailybeast&medium=twitter

Notice the other issues he's been involved in. Even heard Neil Cavuto calling this guy out on Fox.

And when he says he wants to use the extra revenues for research, he's lying. He pockets everything he can

[Saviolo]

36. It's like a game to him

It's like he played way too much of that TradeWars game way back in the old BBS days, and now he figures that he can make that work with real people and real money. Like he's literally playing games with people's lives.

[LiberalArkie]

38. Peoples lives have nothing to do with it in Pharma. It is the money, the profit the only thing that

matters.

[DisgustipatedinCA]

85. Have you seen how many people on Twitter want to punch him in the face?

its not quite universal, but is striking how many people have expressed an interest in punching that smile off his face. I'd love to see him ruined over this douchebaggery.

[7962]

86. Yes, it warms my heart! I've known about this man for 5 yrs. He's been a scumbag longer.

Although he says he's going to drop the price, you can damn well bet its still going to be a LOT higher than its been for the past 30 yrs from the previous owner.
His former company is now suing him for 65 million. His hedge fund has lost several suits in the past. he's threatened former coworkers like a schoolyard bully.
The list goes on.
He deserves an actual beatdown. I cant believe it hasnt happened already. I bet he WOULD change his ways if he thought every time he stepped out the door he might be pummeled

[Jerry442]

12. Sounds like somebody's a closet Marxist...

...doing their best to bring on the revolution.

[laundry_queen]

83. Yup

I see people linking him with 'big pharma'. Let me tell you, 'big pharma' wants NOTHING to do with this guy - This guy will be the one who ushers in price controls and heavy government intervention into the pharmaceutical industry at the least. "Big pharma" wants to keep up the illusion that they are a necessary, benevolent, science-based entity and that they always make decisions with the public's best interests at heart. This guy totally exposes their carefully crafted false front.

[gregcrawford]

13. This is evil...

... and cannot be allowed to continue. Even the vilest Republicans must be outraged by this. Oh. Wait... they ARE vilest Republicans.

This is going to get interesting. If Obama doesn't gut these hedge fund maggots from groin to gizzard and nail their livers to a tree (figuratively speaking, of course, oh thee of delicate sensibilities), his precious legacy is toast.

This is the TRUE face of predatory capitalism. Only a cold-blooded psychopath would even contemplate such thing, let alone DO it.

[bucolic_frolic]

14. The California Electricity Deregulators

have found a new business, same occupation!

[bucolic_frolic]

16. Price Gouging Is Illegal

in many states after hurricanes, or winter storms.

There's always somebody trying to sell a generator for $3000
or gas for $10 a gallon.

How is this different? These patients are having their own storms.

THROW THE BOOK AT THEM!

[davidpdx]

20. Waiting for my medications to go up in price

Round and round we go, which drug is next, nobody knows.

[shanti]

81. makes me wonder

about other basic drugs that have been around for awhile, like metformin, synthroid, etc. now that most americans have medical coverage, these bloodsuckers have to find a new money source

[blackspade]

21. Criminal.

This is how the 1% start getting their houses burnt to the ground.

[hamsterjill]

56. While I'm not advocating this, what you say is correct because someone will be angry enough to do it

There will be someone who has a loved one in need and dying (or who dies) that has had enough and takes matters into his/her own hands. I say again that I am not advocating this, but it is inevitable as there seems to be no other recourse.

I, personally, think those persons who put profit above saving lives should be charged with murder.

[7962]

87. I'm advocating it for this one guy. No question. Hurt him.

Research his past and the underhanded things he's done for years. And he's only 32 NOW. He feels above the law. A physical beating makes you look at what you're doing a little differently. I'm not saying kill him, but give him one of those good old fashioned mob beatings.

[hamsterjill]

91. Well, I wouldn't shed any tears if he got his ass kicked.

I just don't want anyone else to get in trouble for doing it to this jerk. There is no question that he deserves some old fashioned mob justice.

But he will get his due sooner or later. I am a firm believer that when you're an asshole...there's always a BIGGER asshole out there! I hope this asshole meets the bigger one very soon.

[Marrah_G]

66. very true

[Truprogressive85]

22. Backdoor trade deals anyone

You wonder why there are people against TPP

We get called loony leftists who hate capitalism

[BumRushDaShow]

29. This has nothing to do with "TPP"

and everything to do with "the American Way™". It has always been the case due to the way this government was set up and it's focus on "business", notably in the modern capitalistic era post WW2.

Roosevelt ranted about the problem 74 years ago...

[Overseas]

42. It does relate to the TPP-- putting corporations ahead of local government regulations

The TPP gives corporations the right to sue over restrictions of their profits.

The trend didn't start with the TPP as you point out, but the TPP furthers the agenda of Profits Over People's Needs.

[BumRushDaShow]

47. No - that's still irrelevent

Last edited Tue Sep 22, 2015, 11:55 AM - Edit history (1)

The U.S. has been gouging and putting profit before people hundreds of years before any "TPP" and that is the point. And they are not about to change. They have been at this for a long time. That's what prompted them to bring my ancestors here like this -

[Overseas]

54. We are just saying the TPP extends the gouging that you are condemning.

It dresses it up as "free trade" which means private profit can be free from local regulations.

[BumRushDaShow]

65. I think you all don't get it

"TPP" or any "agreement" is just window dressing itself. They don't follow laws and they do what they want. "TPP" is irrelevant as is any "trade agreement". They will find a way to do what they want regardless of any law, treaty, or regulation. There's nothing needed to "extend" the gouging because as long as usry is accepted, no price controls exist, and little if anything is nationalized, then profits first and gouging will always be here... no "extension" is needed.

[Overseas]

89. Corporations would be able to use the Investor State Dispute Resolutions to sue governments

Among the most dangerous but least known parts of today's "trade" agreements are extraordinary new rights and privileges granted to foreign corporations and investors that formally prioritize corporate rights over the right of governments to regulate and the sovereign right of nations to govern their own affairs. These terms empower individual foreign corporations to skirt domestic courts and directly challenge any policy or action of a sovereign government before World Bank and UN tribunals.

Comprised of three private attorneys, the extrajudicial tribunals are authorized to order unlimited sums of taxpayer compensation for health, environmental, financial and other public interest policies seen as frustrating the corporations' expectations. The amount is based on the "expected future profits" the tribunal surmises that the corporation would have earned in the absence of the public policy it is attacking. There is no outside appeal. Many of these attorneys rotate between acting as tribunal "judges" and as the lawyers launching cases against the government on behalf of the corporations. Under this system, foreign corporations are provided greater rights than domestic firms.

This extreme "investor-state" system already has been included in a series of U.S. "trade" deals, forcing taxpayers to hand more than $440 million to corporations for toxics bans, land-use rules, regulatory permits, water and timber policies and more. Under a similar pact, a tribunal recently ordered payment of more than $2 billion to a multinational oil firm. Just under U.S. deals, more than $34 billion remains pending in corporate claims against medicine patent policies, pollution cleanup requirements, climate and energy laws, and other public interest policies.

http://www.citizen.org/investorcases

[BumRushDaShow]

90. TPP is not finalized and

is historically irrelevant because corporations WILL do what they want, WHEN they want, and HOWEVER they want, regardless of any law, regulation, or treaty.

[Overseas]

94. OK then, here's NAFTA

http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2015/01/14/canada-sued-investor-state-dispute-ccpa_n_6471460.html#anyword

Case: Ethyl Corp. (1997)
Amount awarded: US$13 million, out-of-court settlement.
What happened: The U.S. chemical company challenged a Canada-wide ban on import and trade of the gasoline additive MMT, a suspected neurotoxin. Following a preliminary judgement against Canada, the government repealed the ban, issued an apology and paid a settlement.
2. Case: S.D. Meyers (1998)
Amount awarded: CDN$6.05 million, plus interest and compensation.
What happened: The U.S. waste disposal firm challenged a temporary Canadian ban on the export of toxic PCB wastes, something the country was obliged to do under an international environmental treaty. The tribunal ruled that Canada violated standards of treatment under NAFTA.
3.Pope and Talbot (1998)
Amount awarded: CDN$870,000.
What happened: The U.S. lumber company challenged Canada’s lumber export rules implemented under the Canada-U.S. softwood lumber agreement. The tribunal ruled Canada violated NAFTA’s minimum standards of treatment.

[BumRushDaShow]

96. We are in an era of rampant vulture capitalism

and a stampede of "corporate inversions". So U.S. treaties have essentially become meaningless to U.S. corporations who suddenly base themselves in other countries and are no longer (technical) "U.S." entities. See Burger King buying Tim Hortons in Canada.

Until all the loopholes on what constitutes a "U.S. corporation" are closed, any treaty is meaningless. I hate to keep writing this but it is sad. They are going to do what they want regardless and it will negatively impact the worker. Capitalism at its worst.

[jeff47]

44. It has everything to do with the TPP.

The TPP specifically extends drug patents and prevents re-importation.

In other words, the most effective part of the plan Clinton released yesterday would be illegal if the TPP passes.

[BumRushDaShow]

49. No - see post #42. eom

[coyote]

23. All kneel before the almighty buck! Money over people is the prime directive you plebes! N/T

[rtracey]

27. well

You know... not that I would EVER advocate for this, or EVER suggest any thing harmful, but I can now understand why people like Martin Shkreli end up having some aspect of harm to them, not specifically violent harm, but money, power, jail, investigative, and unfortunately yes, sometime violence. ok ok yes then money will go to research, but going from 13.50 a pill to 750.00...this guy is a total dick too, you can see it in his fucking selfies.....asshole

[7962]

35. I would lose NO sleep if someone beat the hell out of him.

he walks the streets of NYC. And it sure wouldnt be hard to find someone with deep pockets who has been hurt by him.

Keep researching him, he's the lowest of the low. And he thinks he's above the law

[bkkyosemite]

28. Big Pharma is Sneaky and Decieving the Masses Re: Medication

My story:

I had to do a lot of research recently as I fell into the Medicare Donut Hole.

I went to a well known big box store to get my prescription that has a $85. co-pay. I take a name brand drug and have for many years. They said it would be $1254.00 to purchase this drug because I slipped into the donut hole.

I contacted a Canada pharmacy and purchased the same drug from the same drug company in Canada and paid $152.88. I told Bernie this story.

I got it and took a tablet and had a reaction to it. The Canadian pharmacist thought I was allergic to one of the in-active ingredients. He thought it was Titanium Oxide (isn't that a metal) that he said they are starting to take out of drugs because of reactions. You see this brand name drug from the same company in Canada uses 8 in-active ingredients in their pill along with the main active ingredient. The same company here in the U.S. uses 5 in-active ingredients along with the same active ingredient. The same active ingredient is the same as used in their generic drug for this med. But none of the in-active ingredients are the same between the two divisions of the company except one (which is not the Titanium Oxide). It's a game of in-active ingredients which makes a pill different. Pharmacies here cannot purchase from just any drug company. Their company can only order from a select amount of companies. I think this is to make sure the same drug which is cheaper with one company over another will not get to the customer. My last comments in this post will tell you why.

I could not pay $1254 here and was not able to take the Canadian med, so I called this well known company who makes this med here in the U.S.. I told them the outrageous difference in cost from their company in Canada and here. That I cannot afford it. They said oh we can help you.....they have this discount program they said (that no one knows about) for those on Medicare. HUH? Never heard of it of course. I said I do not fit the income criteria I am sure. They said oh there is no income criteria. You just have to have a government insurance (Medicare) and can get it for ..........are you reading....for $150. from them. So what the pharmacists here was charging me I could get from the company here for 10% of the higher cost. Are you kidding me. I did purchase it because I am not allergic to the in-active ingredients from the U.S. brand pill. But wait...here is the real deception and the disgusting thing......

I did not take it ever in generic form because I thought that generic's had the cheaper fillers and glues....NOT SO.....you see it's a game that the public doesn't know about. It's like the egg shell game. The Canadian pharmacist was a nice guy and quite helpful. He emailed me and called me to tell me he had done research (he did not know I had called the U.S. company) and wanted to help me. He said he found from a well known company whose corporate office was here in the U.S. and are global, an exact match to my name brand pill. The generic pill had the exact same ingredients as the name brand I had been taking for years. Exactly the same main ingredient and the exact same in-active ingredients for $38.88. So generic or not generic it's the in-active ingredients that they change on you and call it different. I know a doctor who said they also change medications you see on TV from old one just changing one ingredient and calling it a new medication...

We are being screwed big time and Bernie knows it.

This really needs to get to the masses. It's time we stood up to these greedy game playing entities.

[Overseas]

30. K&R. Sorry they can put private profit above public health.

Last edited Tue Sep 22, 2015, 10:09 AM - Edit history (1)

I hope there is a way to regulate the industry.

edit to add:

But also wonder if then the "free trade" (aka Corporate Governed) agreements will overrule any regulations we manage to pass.

[Johnny2X2X]

32. Death Penalty

I'm normally against the death penalty, but drug company executives who make these decisions based on profit opportunities deserve to be tried and put to death.

Sick sick human beings who can look at a group of people suffering and think, "you know what, if they suffer and die a little more, I can make more money, so raise the price to maximize my profit."

That is pure evil.

[The Wizard]

33. Healthcare for profit is immoral.

At least that's what Jesus preached.

[Beowulf42]

39. Get a clue, People. The capitalist vultures are picking the bones of the American corpse.

[Stargazer99]

45. You got it that poor frog is just begining to feel the heat

Anything generally needed by the public should never be privatized: water, electricity, education, etc yet the general public feels helpless, why? Is that what the "more better" than you want you to feel?

[CountAllVotes]

67. Even a vulture flies away

When there is no meat left on the bones of a dead body that has been picked to death!

[lonestarnot]

43. So who is floating the dough for some other business or household that is going under over here.

Crooks in the woodpile taking advantage of the weak again. They're getting pretty good at it. Someone needs to put the brakes on big pharma. Glaringly obvious that only richie rich gets the drugs he needs and let the poor die and infect other poor so they can die and so on and so forth.

[Stargazer99]

46. You got it! This way the well to do can say "I didn't know" and deliberate lack of respect for life

is excused because the little frog is almost dead. The children of the well to do won't become front line cannon fodder by making a decent paying job unavailable so to survive the low income/poor will have to become cannon fodder. Like one conservative said "they knew what they were getting into didn't they". As if there was a choice. Oh, wait I forgot...making abortion and contraception unavailable will provide cannon fodder and cheap labor (completion for jobs). Besides those with money can always go outside the US and obtain abortion or contraception. Little frog do you feel the heat of the water yet?

[lonestarnot]

50. Someone needs to go to jail.

[Sunlei]

51. like to see what Canada will do about this, if anything?

[laundry_queen]

84. It probably depends

on who wins this next election. Harper - nothing. Mulcair - wants to move to a national pharmacare program (ie socialized drugs). Trudeau - will 'look at it'.

[shenmue]

53. Fuck this shit

Start jailing people.

[justhanginon]

59. Jailing should be the second best option. n/t

[CountAllVotes]

64. .

[davekriss]

61. Time for a confiscatory wealth tax, if you ask me

[totodeinhere]

62. Nationalizing the drug companies would be difficult since so many of them are multinational.

So I think that strict price controls would be a better idea. I think that Clinton's plan to cap yearly out of pocket drug expenses might also be a good idea but the $250 monthly limit is way to high. A lot of people couldn't even afford to pay that.

We have got to take the pressure off from seniors and poor people. Five years ago my grandmother's Medigap plan cost $90 monthly. Now starting in November it will be $340 monthly. That's an outrageous price increase.

[Erich Bloodaxe BSN]

80. Go into competition with them.

Give a government run pharmaceutical manufacturer seed capital, and start them into manufacturing existing drugs whose patents have run out and selling them at something like a 10% profit margin, no more. Any profits beyond cost can go towards paying down the national debt.

[CountAllVotes]

63. Phucking Pharmceutical Industry!

They need to go Phuck themselves!

How they sicken me so!

& recommend!!

[BigDemVoter]

68. I don't mind seeing modest price adjustments to match inflation. . . .

But since WHEN have American workers received any kind of wage increase other than fat cats on Wall Street and their ilk?

I work in healthcare as an RN and have patients I discharge on a DAILY basis who tell me that they cannot afford to pay for the medications the physician(s) have written for them. These include everything from cardiac medications--blood pressure medications to antibiotics, etc.

It says a LOT about us as a nation. First of all, we have no real, viable safety net until Medicare kicks in, and THEN we see these obscene profits made by the healthcare industry, primarily the pharmaceuticals. . . . It makes me want to vomit.

We can win the next election, but it seriously will take eliminating the Republican Party from any public office to see this country head in the right direction.

[bucolic_frolic]

69. Anti-competitive Price Fixing

State's AG's should explore PRICE GOUGING that's usually reserved for natural disasters (isn't cancer or toxoplasmosis a personal natural disaster?), and monopolistic anticompetitive trade laws. This is illegal in some fashion.

[wordpix]

79. I wish Congress would investigate. This issue affects O-care, Medicaid, Medicare...

Thanks to the ACA and other BS acts of Congress, our gov. can't negotiate prices so they're at the mercy of Big Pharma.

[Psephos]

74. Or just order some from India for $3/capsule.

BFD

If more people did this, that price would drop in a hurry.

[pyrewoman]

75. cost disclosure petition

http://petitions.moveon.org/sign/pharmaceutical-cost-disclosu


demand full and transparent R&D cost disclosure from pharma

[gopiscrap]

82. Welcome to DU

[mike_c]

77. this is why we need democratic socialism-- to rein in the excesses of unbridled capitalism....

This is obscene.

[wordpix]

78. In US, this is due to the refusal of R's and some D's to negotiate drug prices

They ought to be locked up. Profits before people is their code.

[jmowreader]

98. Christ. Martin Shkreli didn't buy THIS drug too, did he?

[PersonNumber503602]

100. This was Rodelis Therapeutics.

I don't think there is any connection, and that these are totally different scumbags.

It does look like this was reversed though, and the rights were transferred back to the organization who had it before.

[Erich Bloodaxe BSN]

102. Btw, a typical dose appears to be a pill a day for 'at least 18 months' according to a medical site.

That jump takes it to a $200k prescription for the course of use, which obviously means a lot more people won't be able to afford it.

[Dont call me Shirley]

103. FJacking greedy ass hedge funders suck blood like vampires. Illegalize hedge funds.