A specialty drug company called Imprimis Pharmaceuticals has responded to the price-gouging of Daraprim by creating a cheaper alternative.

Turing Pharmaceuticals purchased the rights to the parasite-fighting drug Daraprim in August and raised the price to $750 per pill. Both media and medicine were outraged, sparking a full-on protest that condemned the company’s CEO Martin Shkreli.

Shkreli agreed to lower the price, but that didn’t stop specialty drug manufacturer Imprimis Pharmaceuticals from creating an immensely cheaper alternative.

A Comparable Product With Added Benefits

The compound created by Imprimis Pharmaceuticals has added benefits that will blow Daraprim out of the spotlight.
Image: Hispanics News Network

Daraprim, also known by its generic name pyrimethamine, has existed since 1953. It is used to treat parasitic infections that prey on patients with weakened immune systems, such as those with cancer and HIV/AIDS. These patients are more likely to develop a condition called toxoplasmosis, which causes muscle pain, fever and headaches.

Imprimis Pharmaceuticals, located in San Diego, plans to make a comparable version of the medication for $1 a pill. That’s $749 less than Turing planned to charge. The alternative version would also include a chemical called leucovorin.

“According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, pyrimethamine works to block folic acid synthesis in the parasite T. gondii, the cause of toxoplasmosis, and leucovorin helps to reverse the negative effects on bone marrow caused by this mechanism of action,” the company said.

The drug has changed hands a number of times. Daraprim was originally manufactured by GlaxoSmithKline for about $1 a tablet, and then Impax Laboratories for $13.50 a tablet. Turing bought the drug in August for $55 million and raised the price to $750 per pill.

However, the most recent version of the drug has added benefits from the leucovorin. This version will be sold at a price that is closer to the original cost.

“Imprimis is now offering customizable compounded formulations of pyrimethamine and leucovorin in oral capsules starting as low as $99.00 for a 100 count bottle, or at a cost of under a dollar per capsule. Compounded medications may be appropriate for prescription when a commercially-available medicine does not meet the specific needs of a patient,” the company said.

The Importance Of Access

A new program called Imprimis Cares works to make necessary drugs affordable for the general public.
Image: Our Health

It seems likely that there won’t be much competition when deciding where to purchase the antiparasitic compound.

If Turing were to monopolize the drug, it would cost about $336,000 a year to treat someone with toxoplasmosis, according to the Infectious Diseases Society of America and the HIV Medicine Association.

“While we respect Turing’s right to charge patients and insurance companies whatever it believes is appropriate, there may be more cost-effective compounded options for medications, such as Daraprim, for patients, physicians, insurance companies and pharmacy benefit managers to consider,” Imprimis CEO Mark Baum said in a statement.

“This is not the first time a sole supply generic drug — especially one that has been approved for use as long as Daraprim — has had its price increased suddenly and to a level that may make it unaffordable,” Baum said.

“In response to this recent case and others that we will soon identify, Imprimis is forming a new program called Imprimis Cares which is aligned to our corporate mission of making novel and customizable medicines available to physicians and patients today at accessible prices,” Baum said.

The post Specialty Manufacturer Offers $1 Alternative To Turing’s High-Priced Antiparasitic appeared first on Citizens Report.

British researchers analyzed data that shed light on the rising cost of cancer drugs in the U.S., which are priced 600 times higher than the actual cost.

Consumer surveys illustrate a serious and widespread concern, presidential candidates push health care reform in their political platforms and the media continues to publicize drug makers putting profits over people.

The unreasonably high cost of pharmaceuticals in the United States has grabbed attention from politicians, advocates and consumers. Now, research exposing the actual cost of cancer drugs juxtaposed with the price charged by pharmaceutical companies will add further fuel to the fire.

Data Exposes Price-Gouging

The same cancer medications are priced differently all over the world, but these drugs are the most expensive in the U.S.
Image: 123rf

Pharmaceutical companies must pay various costs to bring a drug to market, including funding the active ingredient and other chemicals, developing the combination into a pill, arranging packaging and shipping and budgeting for a profit margin.

British researchers analyzed data that shows five common cancer drugs are priced 600 times higher than they actually cost. The cost of ingredients came from a public database called IndiaInfoDrive. The report is be presented at the European Cancer Conference in Vienna.

Leukemia drug Glivec, also known as imatinib, costs pharmaceutical companies $159 in total. However, it’s priced at $106,322 in the U.S. and $31,867 in the U.K. In Brazil, the generic version is around $8,000.

“We were quite surprised just how cheap a lot of these cancer drugs really are,” pharmacologist Andrew Hill of the University of Liverpool said. “There’s a lot of scope for prices to come down.”

Four other drugs in the same class, called tyrosine-kinase inhibitors (TKIs), also had shocking true cost comparisons.

These drugs treat cancer in the lung, breast, liver, pancreas and thyroid, in addition to leukemia. Tarceva (erlotinib), Nexavar (sorafenib), Tykerb (lapatinib) and Sprycel (dasatinib) cost anywhere from $236 for Tarceva to $4,022 for Tykerb. In the U.S., these drugs are priced at around $78,797 to $135,679.

According to Hill, more than a million cancer patients worldwide would benefit from TKIs but cannot access them because of the hefty price tag.

“Very few of them are being treated now,” he said.

The Preposterous Price Of Cancer Drugs

Health professionals believe that the price of these drugs is not equal to their value.
Image: John Tabita

The price-gouging of cancer drugs has continued to rise overall. Dr. Peter B. Bach of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York tracked the rise. After adjusting for inflation he found an estimated 100 percent increase since 1965.

“The rate of rise exceeds the rise in benefits from these drugs,” Bach says. “This is a ginned-up pricing structure that isn’t a product of careful analysis. It’s not a bunch of guys in green eye-shades but a bit of dart-throwing and chutzpah. And if there’s a critical Op Ed piece or a Twitter avalanche [in response to a high price] they’ll lower it.”

Three years ago, Bach and two of his peers wrote a New York Times opinion-editorial about the refusal to prescribe a new colon cancer drug at Memorial Sloan Kettering that wasn’t as effective as the high price tag made it seem.

In response to the piece, the drug maker cut the price in half. A similar response from the CEO of Turing Pharmaceuticals occurred after a public outcry caused by the fact that he raised the price of Daraprim from$13.50 to $750-per-pill.

Hope For A Change

Presidential candidates such as Hilary Clinton and Bernie Sanders have both led campaigns that include health care reform.
Image: Southside Pride

While Obama’s administration continues to work on a way to lower the prices of pharmaceuticals nationwide, democratic candidates are attempting to make price-reducing proposals a part of their platform.

“We’ve spoken with Bernie Sanders’ advisers and shown him our results with HIV, hepatitis and cancer drugs,” Hill says.

Because Washington’s pharmaceutical lobbyists are extremely powerful, coming to an agreement on a policy change will be difficult. Pharmaceutical manufacturers argue that regulating prices will limit the likeliness of new drugs being brought to market.

Clinton’s proposal to regulate drug prices “would restrict patients’ access to medicines, result in fewer new treatments for patients, cost countless jobs across the country and could end our nation’s standing as the world leader in biomedical innovation,” according to the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers Association.

The association is not alone. Bach critiques Clinton’s idea that companies should be required to assign a certain proportion of their revenue to research and development.

“Pharma uses the language of a regulated monopoly like utility companies, which argue that they need to be compensated for infrastructure costs,” Bach says. “Apple never says, ‘We charge $600 for an iPhone because of our research.’ Or Ford never says a Taurus costs X dollars because of its R&D.”

In addition, Bach disagrees with the idea that high drug prices are justified if they save patients money on hospitalization or transplants.

“That argument is unique to the pharmaceutical industry,” Bach says. “Can you imagine if Poland Spring priced their bottled water to include the value of avoiding cholera? Or if the price of condoms included the cost of an avoided pregnancy?”

The post Cancer Medication Is Grossly Overpriced In The U.S. appeared first on Citizens Report.

The International Federation of Health Plans concluded that Americans are paying six times more for prescription medication than the rest of the world.

The unreasonably high price of pharmaceuticals in the United States has shined a bright light on the drug industry, exemplifying the fact that Americans are paying much more for medication than patients in other countries.

The government healthcare budget for prescription drugs is low in comparison to other nations.

Structural Inequalities

Americans are paying more for brand-name drugs across the board, but cancer patients and those in need of specialty medications are the hardest hit.
Image: Jaron Associates

American insurance companies pay about $215 per customer each month for the acid reflux drug Nexium. In the Netherlands, an equivalent prescription costs about $23.

Data from the International Federation of Health Plans shows that pharmaceuticals in the United States are six times more expensive than in other countries.

The priciest drugs are specialty and cancer medications, but standard prescriptions are costly as well. Cancer treatment pill Gleevec costs patients about $6,214 per month in the United States, compared to $1,141 in Canada and $2,697 in England.

Rheumatoid arthritis drug, Humira, is $2,246 in the United States, compared to $881 in Switzerland and $1,102 in England.

Americans who suffer from depression could pay $194 for Cymbalta, but the price is $46 in England and $52 in the Netherlands.

The health care system in the Unites States is more competitive than other countries. Fewer players would allocate more purchasing power to certain groups, which would give them the ability to negotiate a reduced cost.

The United Kingdom’s National Health Service supplies the country’s drugs through bulk purchases called formularies. The U.S. has multiple unregulated private insurance firms, hospitals and plans that buy for individual groups of consumers. Through different plans, consumers allow companies to negotiate prices with the pharmaceuticals on their behalf.

But a smaller pool of negotiators yields more power to the consumer, allowing patients to decide what they are willing to pay.  In a system like this, companies are forced to make fair negotiations if they want to be a part of the marketplace.

The Root Of The Problem

Pharmaceutical companies have the power to set drug prices without explanation.
Image: Budding Into Fullness

Pharmaceutical companies are in control of setting drug costs, and it’s clear that they are putting profits before people.

A Kaiser Family Foundation poll found that 72 percent of Americans think drug costs are unreasonable and want drug companies to release information on how they set prices. The current system leaves consumers without a choice or an explanation.

Pharmaceutical trade group PhRMA attributes the high prices to the funding of research and development. According to PhRMA, companies invest almost $2.6 billion dollars on average for more than 10 years to bring a drug into the marketplace. Many new drugs never make it.

But critics disagree. Many medical experts believe that drug companies set the prices high solely because they can.

“We have no rational system in the U.S. for managing prices of drugs,” Dr. Peter B. Bach, director of Director of Memorial Sloan Kettering’s Center for Health Policy and Outcomes told CNN.

Medicare provides drug treatments for a majority of Americans, but the provider is prohibited from negotiating with drug companies. Presidential candidates Hilary Clinton and Bernie Sanders have addressed necessary industry changes as a  core of their platforms.

“People should not have to go without the medication they need just because their elected officials aren’t willing to challenge the drug and health care industry lobby,” Sanders said in a statement on his official website. “Between our government’s unwillingness to negotiate prices and its failure to effectively fight fraud, it’s no wonder drug prices are out of control.”

In Germany, nonprofit health insurers are able to bargain with pharmaceuticals and health providers to get the best price possible. Medicare should be able to use its buying power to set prices by negotiating directly with pharmaceutical companies to find a reasonable cost.

The United States lacks a central agency, federal or non-governmental, to conduct research that focuses on drug efficacies. A system in Canada allows providers to compare drugs to similar treatments on the market to determine an accurate price.

Only by regulating the drug industry and gaining the power to negotiate with pharmaceutical companies will the price of pharmaceuticals in America decline.

“Those guys are profit driven. That’s a big problem,” said Kesselheim.

The post Why Are U.S. Patients Paying More For Pharmaceuticals? appeared first on Citizens Report.

Turing Pharmaceuticals raised the price of a life-saving drug more than 55 times the original cost. The price-gouging has caused a serious media and medical outcry.

The high cost of pharmaceuticals is a widespread issue in the United States. Pharmaceutical price-gouging is something that presidential candidates are trying to combat, but the seriousness of the problem wasn’t as clear until the cost of a life-saving drug was raised by 5500 percent.

Turing Pharmaceuticals of New York acquired the rights to Daraprim, a drug that treats infection from a common parasite. After buying Daraprim from Impax Laboratories, Turing increased the cost of the drug from $13.50 per pill to $750 per pill.

A Life-Saving Drug

Daraprim is on the World Health Organization’s List of Essential Medicines, which means that it is a necessity in a basic health system.
Image: Share Tu

Daraprim, also known as pyrimethamine, has been on the market since 1953. It is an antiparasitic compound that treats protozoal infections such as malaria and toxoplasmosis.

While malaria is almost unheard of in the United States, toxoplasmosis is a frequent cause of illness. Toxoplasmosis, the most common food-borne disease, attacks a weakened immune system. The condition is life-threatening and has the potential to kill patients whose natural defense mechanisms have been weakened from cancer, HIV/AIDS and even pregnancy, according to the CDC.

About 60 million people in the United States may carry the toxoplasma parasite, according to the CDC. The parasite is spread from eating under-cooked meat, drinking unclean water and coming into contact with contaminated cutlery or infected feces.

The parasite can be passed to unborn children during pregnancy or through organ transplants. The flu-like symptoms may seem mild, but the parasite is deadly. It attacks the brain and can cause blindness and brain damage.

Outrage From The Medical Community

The HIV Medicine Association and the Infectious Diseases Society of America are two of the health organizations that have protested the price-gouging of Daraprim.
Image: Blogger

Doctors, patient and other health professionals are outraged by the rising cost of prescription drugs.

Turing Pharmaceuticals was contacted by the HIV Medicine Association and the Infectious Diseases Society of America to share concerns about the high cost. The pricey pill may not be stocked in hospitals if it the institution can’t afford to buy in bulk. But no alternative treatment is effective enough, which means that many patients won’t have access to the medication they need.

The cost increase makes the medication unaffordable, even for people with insurance. High-price drugs are categorized as “specialty” medications, and patients will pay hundreds or even thousands of dollars every year. Most insurance plans require patients to pay 20 percent of the drug cost, which would equate to $150 a pill.

“This is a tremendous increase,” said Judith Aberg, a spokesperson for the HIV Medicine Association.

In 2013, the average cost of medication increased by 13 percent, according to a report from the Prime Institute at the University of Minnesota. Cancer treatments now cost more than $100,000 a year. The brand-name hepatitis C drug, Sovaldi, costs $84,000 for a 12-week treatment.

“Every week, I’m learning about another drug that has increased in price because of a change in marketing or the distributor,” Aberg said.

CEO Set To Lower The Price

In response to the media outcry, Martin Shkreli, CEO of Turing Pharmaceuticals, plans to lower the price. The company hasn’t determined the amount. 
Image: The Guardian

Turing said the company is working with hospitals and providers to make the drug accessible through co-pay assistance programs and free-of-charge options for uninsured patients, according to Turing spokesman Craig Rothenberg.

Rothenberg said there is a purpose for the high price. The income will be used to research treatments for toxoplasmosis and invest in marketing and education to promote awareness about the disease. The goal is to develop a toxoplasmosis treatment with less side effects.

“There has been no innovation in dealing with toxoplasmosis,” Rothenberg said. “That has been a long neglect in the patient community.”

But after the medical community expressed their disdain for the price hike, Turing’s CEO Martin Shkreli has agreed to lower the cost by an unknown amount. The company paid $55 million for the rights to Daraprim, and Shkreli claims he’s just trying to get an adequate return on his investment.

“Yes it is absolutely a reaction — there were mistakes made with respect to helping people understand why we took this action, I think that it makes sense to lower the price in response to the anger that was felt by people,” Shkreli told NBC.

On Twitter, Shkreli said he would “set the record straight on misconceptions and announce some adjustments to our plan.” Despite the low production costs, the company still needs to finance “the quality control, the regulatory costs, and all of the other things that come with having a drug company.”

“We’ll know in several weeks how profitable the drug is, if it at all,” Shkreli said in an NBC interview. “It may turn out that’s it not even profitable at all, even at this price.”

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