Ex-hedge funder buys rights to AIDS drug and raises price from $13.50 to $750 per pill

[Climber]

Some facts about this whole situation that hasn't been brought to light in this thread yet:

1. He did not by the manufacturing rights to the drug, he bought the marketing (and selling) rights to the drug for the US.
2. GlaxoSmithKline has been manufacturing it all along, so it's not a 'pipeline' or manufacturing issue.
3. In India, multiple combinations of generic pyrimethamine are available for a price ranging from U.S. $0.05–$0.10 each (3–7 rupees).
4. In the UK, the same drug is available from GSK at a cost of U.S. $20 (£13) for 30 tablets (approx. $0.66 each).[

People who need these drugs should contact people in the UK. FUCK this guy!

Source

 

[Holeshot]

Brett, thanks for bringing the most pertinent facts to the thread. A totally different picture emerges. What you've talked about is common throughout the US and the world. Distribution rights. The solutions is simple: overseas procurement. He very well may end up with nothing, in the end.

 

[mbsv]

ah, but it's basically illegal to do overseas procurement. fun, eh?

 

[Holeshot]

Right...so attack that legality as well.

 

[bikeama]

Agreed. Anyone who thinks socializing drug development would lead to better health care is kidding themselves. It might be cheaper, but it wouldn't be better, because many, many therapies would never be investigated, much less developed and the costs/decisions would become a political football/nightmare.

NIH, does research and supplies grants for most university research. Great us of tax dollars. My son-in-law has an NIH grant doing a post doc at Johns Hopkins.

 

[mbsv]

Right...so attack that legality as well.

but that's the whole point: the industry has bought the regulations to ensure a monopoly for whatever player chooses to pay/play, without repercussions.

this is one of the reasons why healthcare is expensive here. not 'better outcomes', etc. but simple price fixing. going 'elsewhere' (read: overseas) is expensive, and impossible in many scenarios.

we sort of have a 'single player' system already!

 

[Archimedes]

NIH, does research and supplies grants for most university research. Great us of tax dollars. My son-in-law has an NIH grant doing a post doc at Johns Hopkins.

And how many drug compounds have they funded through NDA? You're talking about research. I'm talking about taking the risk of selecting which compounds to bet on and making the huge investment in the clinical trial process. The NIH is an awesome organization, but it doesn't have the budget or the mandate to take up the R&D function of the pharma/biotech industry.

 

[Archimedes]

Some facts about this whole situation that hasn't been brought to light in this thread yet:

1. He did not by the manufacturing rights to the drug, he bought the marketing (and selling) rights to the drug for the US.
2. GlaxoSmithKline has been manufacturing it all along, so it's not a 'pipeline' or manufacturing issue.

That's typically all that is bought and sold in these types of deals, the marketing rights in a given territory. Nothing unique about either party in the deal not actually manufacturing the product.

 

[Archimedes]

3. In India, multiple combinations of generic pyrimethamine are available for a price ranging from U.S. $0.05–$0.10 each (3–7 rupees).

Do a little research on the generic drug laws in India (and the manufacturing labor costs) and you'll understand why it's cheaper there. We have neither of those here in the U.S.

 

[Archimedes]

If the government bought a profitable drug line for $55M and kept the price where it was, and kept it profitable, it would be a bit of chump change I'd be willing to pay taxes toward.

Depending on what the seller was paying for manufacture, the drug may not have been profitable enough under the old pricing scheme to justify a $55 million sale price for the marketing rights. Given it was only a $5 million product, there almost certainly would have been some modest price rise required to make the $55 million deal make sense.

 

[Dubbington]

Hackers got his number and home address and posted it on Twitter today

 

[SNsMoto]

After more news on this guy is coming to light, I'm beginning to think this was just a case of being too young and desperate.

He was getting hit with a lot of lawsuits in the millions.... maybe he was just looking for a quick way to pad his bank account for this purpose only and that there wasn't really any other motivation behind it.

 

[Climber]

That's typically all that is bought and sold in these types of deals, the marketing rights in a given territory. Nothing unique about either party in the deal not actually manufacturing the product.

Are you trying to say that NIH does not provide grants for clinical trials?

 

[Climber]

Do a little research on the generic drug laws in India (and the manufacturing labor costs) and you'll understand why it's cheaper there. We have neither of those here in the U.S.

How about the version in the UK which sells for $0.66/pill there?

 

[kevin 714]

Hackers got his number and home address and posted it on Twitter today

Sometimes I really do love the Internet

 

[SNsMoto]

Hackers got his number and home address and posted it on Twitter today

As I got older, I started seeing this type of behavior as more and more immature and unacceptable.

If someone condones this type of behavior, than they are worse than he is.

A visual I always think of are the wusses who are witnessing a fight. They just egg one person on and they just stand back and laugh.

 

[Bay Arean]

I will repeat: I have heard the "r and d" argument for decades. It's getting a bit hard to swallow because we are living through the oligarchic dichotomy where the wealthy have access to any number of procedures while the poor just look and feel worse and worse. It reminds me of the movie "Elysium."

What good is all the greatest drugs in the world if only one social class can afford them? Do you see the pharmaceutical industry getting on their hands and knees and saving people in Africa? If they are, educate me about it and I will be humbled. What I see are ultra-high priced brand names and a thriving sloppy industry of foreign made and possibly sketchy generics for the rest of us.

 

[Holeshot]

After more news on this guy is coming to light, I'm beginning to think this was just a case of being too young and desperate.

He was getting hit with a lot of lawsuits in the millions.... maybe he was just looking for a quick way to pad his bank account for this purpose only and that there wasn't really any other motivation behind it.

Cause he's a shitbird. I hope he doesn't join BARF, lest I get suspended for saying so...

If he's in this much trouble this early, he's headed for an episode of American Greed.

 

[tgrrdr]

What I can't figure out from google is what portion of the current customer base will see almost no change due to insurance covering their drug costs vs paying out of pocket.

so, I didn't fact check the website I'm linking but it seems well researched. YMMV.

http://www.skepticalraptor.com/skepticalraptorblog.php/skyrocketing-prices-of-an-anti-parasitic-drug-the-facts/

But here’s the thing–the net effect of this price increase is pretty close to negligible. The total market is tiny. Most high risk patients without huge economic resources are protected from these prices. Finally, there are lower cost and better drugs available to patients.

The pricing behavior of Turing is unsupportable, that’s clear. The effect on needy patients, however, is small.

p.s. I think the mis-characterizations and lack of basic research by vast hordes of people sharing this "story" on social media is almost as bad as what he did.

 

[littlebeast]

I will repeat: I have heard the "r and d" argument for decades. It's getting a bit hard to swallow because we are living through the oligarchic dichotomy where the wealthy have access to any number of procedures while the poor just look and feel worse and worse. It reminds me of the movie "Elysium."

What good is all the greatest drugs in the world if only one social class can afford them? Do you see the pharmaceutical industry getting on their hands and knees and saving people in Africa? If they are, educate me about it and I will be humbled. What I see are ultra-high priced brand names and a thriving sloppy industry of foreign made and possibly sketchy generics for the rest of us.

no offense to africans in general, but there are plenty of unscrupulous people there as well. have personal business experience with some rat bastards who would sell their mothers liver if there was profit in it. with regard to access to healthcare - the payers are the ones calling the shots, and they are very effective at flying their creepy selves under the radar. advertised prices don't mean shit. it's all in the formularies.

and with regard to references in this thread to 'big pharma', the asshole in question is not big pharma, the company he bought his rights from is not big pharma (a flip sale), and the company they bought their rights from is also not big pharma. not that big pharma aren't also dicks. just sayin.