Silver_mani Posted November 20, 2015 Report Posted November 20, 2015 Company That Upped Drug Price 5,000% Reports $14 M Loss Thu, 11/19/2015 - 9:34am Michelle Taylor, Editor-in-Chief Get daily news for laboratory professionals - Sign up now! Carrying an image of Turing Pharmaceuticals CEO Martin Shkreli in a makeshift cat litter pan, AIDS activists and others are asked to leave the lobby of 1177 6th Ave. in New York, during a protest highlighting pharmaceutical drug pricing last month. (AP Photo/Craig Ruttle) Turing Pharmaceuticals, the company that upped the price of a life-saving drug for parasitic infection by 5,000 percent, has just reported a quarterly loss of $14.6 million. The loss was made between July and the end of September. Turing, and its eccentric CEO Martin Shkreli, raised the price of generic Daraprim from $13.50 to $750 per pill in August. The drug is a mainstay in treating toxoplasmosis. Toxoplasmosis is a parasite infection that can cause life-threatening problems for those with compromised immune systems, like cancer and AIDS patients. Read more: The Rising Costs of Prescription Drugs According to Turing’s recently released financial statement, the net revenue reported for Daraprim and blood pressure drug Vecamyl was $5.6 million. After public outcry, including from presidential hopefuls Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders, Shkreli vowed to reduce the price of Daraprim to something more reasonable, but that would still allow his company to make a profit. So far, that has not happened. Last month, Imprimis Pharmaceuticals introduced a $1 version of Daraprim in direct response to Turing’s price hike. Turing Pharmaceuticals defended the third-quarter losses, saying it has been investing money into new drugs—expecting to spend 60 percent of revenue on R&D. These new drug candidates include: Investigational New Drug applications for new candidate medications for toxoplasmosis (what Daraprim treats), currently in preclinical studies. Turing is also engaged in licensing opportunities for toxoplasmosis therapeutics. Phase I clinical program for a new drug candidate for epileptic encephalopathies, a group of severe epilepsy disorders in which uncontrolled epileptic activity contributes to a progressive decline in cognitive and motor function. The development of an intranasal formulation of ketamine for the treatment of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and major depressive disorder (MDD). A preclinical drug candidate targeting pathological mechanisms associated with Canavan Disease. Canavan is a neurological disorder that manifests in early infancy and is caused by an inherited genetic abnormality. Symptoms include intellectual disability and the inability to crawl, walk, sit or talk. A preclinical drug candidate for Lafora Disease, a fatal autosomal recessive neurological disorder typically diagnosed in adolescents.
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