“Prices Rise as Morality Falls” – A Story of Turing Pharmaceuticals

Abstract

Turing Pharmaceuticals, guided through CEO Martin Shkreli, a start-up increased the price of Daraprim -the standard treatment for toxoplasmosis -by 5433% from $13.50 per pill to $750.00 per tablet. Such incident again brings the attention towards the unregulated drug price in the US, which diverges from other developed nations. Moreover, such cases raise eyebrows among the society and force people to understand the intersection of healthcare, business practices and justice. Price raised by Turing Pharmaceuticals has a devastating force on the low-income people of US. It delivers a devastating consequence on the patients, and in the difficult economic situation, 5000% hike in costs is unreasonable. Many stakeholders are affected by the steep cost of the drug. Hence, drug price becomes one of the political agenda for the political leaders. Thus, the price rise caused by a Turing Pharmaceutical company triggered the burning issue of Biopharma companies to put profit before patient's health.