Everyone hates Turing Pharmaceuticals CEO Martin Shkreli after he bought the drug Daraprim and raised the price 5,000 percent from $13.50 a pill, to $750. In response, another pharmaceutical company is offering an alternative to Daraprim for only $1.
Imprimis Pharmaceuticals, based in San Diego, mixes approved drug ingredients to fill individual patient prescriptions. On Thursday, the company announced that it will provide capsules containing Daraprim’s main, active ingredients: pyrimethamine and leucovorin. The capsules will sell for $1 apiece, or $99 for a 100-capsule supply.
Announcing the news, Imprimis Pharmaceuticals released a press release discussing the offer while taking shots at Turing and the Pharma Bro.
Last month, Turing Pharmaceuticals LLC, the sole supplier of Daraprim, increased the price of this prescription drug from $13.50 per tablet to a reported $750.00 per tablet. The FDA-approved label for Daraprim indicates that it is prescribed for toxoplasmosis and other types of infections. Toxoplasmosis can be of major concern for patients with weakened immune systems such as patients with HIV/AIDS, pregnant women and children. 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.
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. For ordering information, please visit www.imprimiscares.com.
Here’s hoping that other companies follow suit and put people like Shkreli out of business.
For more on this story, visit CBS News “Company to offer $1 version of costly Turing drug”
