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Turing’s CEO in Trouble for Planning to Overprice a Free Drug in the US

by Reshma Anand on Dec 15 2015 3:45 PM

Turing’s CEO in Trouble for Planning to Overprice a Free Drug in the US
The most hated CEO in the United States is again planning to increase the price of a drug used to treat Chagas disease in the Latin America.
Chagas disease also called as Trypanosomiasis is caused through a bite of a bug leading to heart problems that could turn fatal. According to WHO the disease affects 300,000 Americans and about 6 to 7 million people worldwide.

Martin Shrkeli, CEO of Turing Pharmaceuticals has also taken control of KaloBios Pharmaceuticals, which owns the generic version of the Chagas drug, benznidazole. The drug has been approved by the FDA for use in the Latin american region but not in the United States.

Taking this as an advantage, Shrkeli has reportedly planned to increase the price of the drug in the USA. He has told his company to fast-track the approval of this drug so they can be entitled to have exclusive rights to it within the next five years. By then, the drug could be selling at least $60,000 per treatment, a far cry from $50 to $100 plan given to Latin America over the course of two months.

The drug has a 100% cure rate especially when the patient is treated during the early stages of the disease and is also available for free in acute cases.

Source-Medindia


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