A new way to suck money out of the public start up a pharmaceutical company, find investors, buy up the rights to old drugs, used to treat rare conditions, then sky rocket the price, with the justification that it's not used that often, so we need more money, to make it worthwhile to our investors plus we need the money to do research to find new ways to improve this drug.
What was wrong with pharmaceutical companies who used the money they made off other drugs, to help pay for the cost of keeping a less used drug available to those, who desperately need it?
It seems the pharmaceutical companies don't want to be bothered by the drugs they don't make enough money on, so they can concentrate on the newer drugs, where they can gouge the people, until the patent is up and a generic is able to be made for it.
Specialists in infectious disease are protesting a gigantic overnight increase in the price of a 62-year-old drug that is the standard of care for treating a life-threatening parasitic infection.
The drug, called Daraprim, was acquired in August by Turing Pharmaceuticals, a start-up run by a former hedge fund manager. Turing immediately raised the price to $750 a tablet from $13.50, bringing the annual cost of treatment for some patients to hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Doxycycline, an antibiotic, went from $20 a bottle in October 2013 to $1,849 by April 2014, according to the two lawmakers.
While some price increases have been caused by shortages, others have resulted from a business strategy of buying old neglected drugs and turning them into high-priced “specialty drugs.”Price increases could bring sales to tens or even hundreds of millions of dollars a year if use remains constant. Medicaid and certain hospitals will be able to get the drug inexpensively under federal rules for discounts and rebates. But private insurers, Medicare and hospitalized patients would have to pay closer to the list price.
Cycloserine, a drug used to treat dangerous multidrug-resistant tuberculosis, was just increased in price to $10,800 for 30 pills from $500 after its acquisition by Rodelis Therapeutics. Scott Spencer, general manager of Rodelis, said the company needed to invest to make sure the supply of the drug remained reliable. He said the company provided the drug free to certain needy patients.There are always minds out their thinking of ways they can make money as fast as they can. Who cares if they are taking advantage of people who need these rare drugs desperately. Jump below the fold, for more about this. I put the web address, of the article I looked at and wanted to share.