Can we blame Martin Shkreli for succeeding in a system that we created?

Recently, public outrage over Daraprim’s price hike from $13.50 to $750 was loud and clear — so loud that its CEO Martin Shkreli had to rescind it. In the business world, he might be praised as a savvy investor. He saw a product that was drastically undervalued and priced it at a level that the market was willing to bear, reaping huge profits. This type of mentality is a trait many Fortune 500 companies seek: someone who can see opportunity and grab it. Yet the amount of backlash from this economically-driven decision was shocking. Daraprim (or pyrimethamine as known by many physicians)‎ is a rarely prescribed medication, with somewhere between 8,000 to 13,000 prescriptions annually per IMS Health, used for some cases of malaria, pneumocystitis, and toxoplasmosis. The bulk of this supply goes to Medicaid patients or hospitals that service Medicaid patients, both of which are shielded from Shkreli’s price hike by Section 340B of the 1992 Health Service Act. An additional number of patients can qualify for reduced pricing directly through Turing Pharmaceuticals. Most patients will only need the medication for a short, finite amount of time. In the grand scheme of health care’s trillion dollar price tag, this is a blip. Then why all the uproar? Are we upset by how this will affect a minority of Medicare and privately-insured patients who cannot demonstrate enough need to qualify for the drug’s discount programs? No doubt Shkreli was confused by the ridicule,...
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - Category: Journals (General) Authors: Tags: Meds Infectious disease Medications Source Type: blogs