Another kind of war on drugs broke out this week, in the form of a price hike and a public outrage. Overnight, Turing Pharmaceuticals raised the price of a drug called Daraprim from $13.50 to $750, a more than 5,000 percent increase. Daraprim is used to treat toxoplasmosis, a rare infection that can be particularly dangerous for people who have weakened immune systems, like AIDS patients or pregnant women. It’s also used as part of cancer and HIV treatments.
Art Caplan is Head of the Division of Medical Ethics at NYU Langone Medical Center ad the co-host of the Everyday Ethics podcast. He joined Jim Braude and Margery Eagan on Boston Public Radio to discuss what this price hike reveals about the pharmaceutical industry.
In response to the public’s response, Turing CEO Martin Shkreli said he will lower the cost of the life-saving medication, but did not reveal what the new price will be. According to Caplan, the bigger-picture issue here is not Shrekli, but Big Pharm. “I don’t like what this guy did, Caplan said, “but is he within his right to capture a product, get a monopoly and charge whatever he wants, even if it’s a vital medicine? Yes. Have we done anything about it in this country? No.”
“[Shkreli] is an outlier, he said. “The real issue is: why are prices for drugs so high, why are we paying through the nose in the United States when other countries pay far less?”
The 5000 percent increase sparked an outrage, and even Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton weighed in, "That is bad actors making a fortune off people's misfortune," she said. In response, Clinton proposed a $250 monthly cap on prescription costs. “Nothing is wrong with that, I just don’t believe it’s ever going to get anywhere,” Caplan said. “I don’t think it’s the right plan, because the real answer here is get the government into negotiations in Medicare, and the VA, and across the board, with prices, and let those be the prices that everybody pays.”
“The cost of drugs and the cost of everything else in healthcare is just a hot mess,” Caplan said. “Nobody knows what the price of anything is. It’s based on what people will pay, not what it costs.”
Medical Ethicist Art Caplan is Head of the Division of Medical Ethics at NYU Langone Medical Center ad the co-host of the Everyday Ethics podcast. To hear more of his interview with BPR, click on the audio link above.
