Schoolkids Remake $750 Malaria Drug for $2

[Indika]

https://www.scientificamerican.com/...-malaria-drug-for-2/?WT.mc_id=SA_TW_HLTH_NEWS



Former pharma chief Martin Shkreli, criticized over high prices, first derided the students but now praises them

Martin Shkreli, left, former CEO of Turing Pharmaceuticals, leaves a House Oversight and Government Reform Committee in Rayburn Building on 'methods and reasoning behind recent drug price increases,' after invoking his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination on February 4, 2016. Credit: Tom Williams, CQ Roll Call, Getty Images
By Reuters Television & Darren Schuettler

Former pharmaceutical executive Martin Shkreli has congratulated a group of Australian students who reproduced the active ingredient for a life-saving, anti-parasitic drug at the center of a drug-price controversy involving his former company.

The students from Sydney Grammar School drew global media attention this week after they said they had produced the drug Daraprim for about $2 a dose, a fraction of the current list price of $750 per dose.

Shkreli is a former chief executive of Turing Pharmaceuticals, where he sparked outrage among patients and U.S. lawmakers for raising the price of Daraprim by more than 5,000 percent.

"These Australian students are proof that the 21st century economy will solve problems of human suffering through science and technology," Shkreli said in a video message posted on YouTube.

Martin Shkreli, a former chief executive of Turing Pharmaceuticals, drew outrage for raising the price of malaria medication Daraprim by 5,000 percent. When Australian students said they had experimentally produced the drug for just $2 a dose, Shkreli initially derided their efforts in the above tweets—but he later that said the media had misrepresented his tweets, and released a YouTube video praising the students. Source: https://twitter.com/MartinShkreli
"We should congratulate these students for their interest in chemistry and I’ll be excited about what is to come in this STEM-focused 21st century,” he said, referring to science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

Daraprim is used to fight parasitic infections in AIDS patients, pregnant women and others.

The six students and their science teacher worked under the guidance of the University of Sydney and members of the Open Source Malaria consortium, which allows scientists to share research on anti-malaria drugs.

"We had to repeat a lot of the reactions and try different reaction conditions in order to see which materials in which things would react to make the Daraprim," student Brandon Lee told Reuters Television on Friday.

Turing made front-page headlines after it bought the rights to Daraprim in August 2015. With no rival manufacturers making the drug, Turing quickly raised the price for a tablet of Daraprim to $750 from $13.50.

Overnight, the tiny company was vilified as an example of pharmaceutical industry greed, drawing fire from politicians and medical groups. Turing later said it would cut the cost of the drug to hospitals.

Lee said the students wanted to show that "these compounds which you think are only accessible to these large, large-scale companies are actually able to be accessed and produced by ordinary citizens".

Shkreli stepped down as Turing's chief executive in December 2015 after being indicted on charges that he engaged in a Ponzi-like scheme at a hedge fund and Retrophin Inc, a company he once headed. He has pleaded not guilty.

 

[AZADPAKISTAN2009]

Aids drug not malaria

 

[randomradio]

http://qz.com/851416/why-martin-shk...when-australian-schoolkids-can-make-it-for-2/
Martin Shkreli has been the butt of many jokes. The latest one comes from a group of high-school students in Australia.

Shkreli is the former CEO of Turing Pharmaceuticals, which in 2015 raised the price of the drug Daraprim by 5,000%, from $13.50 per dose to $750 (cutting it to a mere $375 for some hospitals, after an outcry). The drug treats infections from toxoplasmosis, which can be fatal in patients also suffering from AIDS. Turing was heavily criticized by politicians and even other pharmaceutical executives.

The students of Sydney Grammar School were looking for a chemistry project, and Shkreli’s antics gave them inspiration to try and synthesize pyrimethamine, the key ingredient of Daraprim, with assistance from a researcher at the University of Sydney. The end product? They calculate the cost of making the drug is $2 per dose.

When the story was reported by the Sydney Morning Herald, Shkreli responded on Twitter in his usual acerbic tone:

1 Dec
Neda Vanovac

✔ @nedavanovac
Nice one, boys! Sydney schoolkids show up Martin Shkreli by making a malaria drug for $2 that he charged $750 for: http://bit.ly/2gH8IUc


Follow
Martin Shkreli

✔@MartinShkreli
@nedavanovac lol how is that showing anyone up? almost any drug can be made at small scale for a low price. glad it makes u feel good tho.

5:33 AM - 1 Dec 2016 · Wantagh, NY

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For the high-school kids, it was a nice science project. Sadly, barring Shkreli’s lack of nuance, he does have a point. The cost of manufacturing a drug has little if anything to do with the cost of developing it—and of marketing it, which is often higher than the cost of research. (Just as some people prefer sneakers from Nike to a no-name brand, people prefer to buy branded drugs.)

Some drugs can be discovered and developed for a few million dollars, while others might need more than a billion. On average, though, the cost has been going up. Because of these widely variable but often very high costs, the deciding factor in the price in any given country is often nothing other than what a company can get away with charging.

An extreme example is the cancer drug imatinib. In the US, its cost is $146,000 for a 1-year supply. In India, it’s only $400. That’s because in the US only Novartis, which owns the patent on the drug, is allowed to sell it. Patents are offered to pharma companies as a way of recouping the development cost of a drug. In India, after Novartis lost a court case, it also lost the patent rights to imatinib in the country. That’s why generic manufacturers, which can make the drug for about $200 for a year’s supply, are able to sell it so cheaply.

Similarly, pyrimethamine, the drug the Sydney Grammar School kids were able to make for $2 per dose, and which Turing sells for up to $750, can be bought in India for as little as $0.10.

Turing was able to charge the premium because it owned the rights to the brand name Daraprim in the US, and was its only manufacturer at the time. Turing had acquired Daraprim from another company, so it wasn’t even trying to recoup development costs—though the company says the revenue is funding its development of other drugs.

The good news is that pyrimethamine, the key ingredient of Daraprim, is not protected by patents. If a generic manufacturer can pass the US drug regulator’s tests, it can compete with Daraprim on price. Soon after Turing’s price hike, Imprimis Pharmaceuticals promised such an alternative, for $1 per capsule. But because it’s not an identical replacement to Daraprim, as of August this year, Turing was still charging many patients $375 per dose.

 

[Desertfalcon]

Aids drug not malaria

It's for both as well as treatment for toxoplasmosis and cystoisosporiasis.

 

[AZADPAKISTAN2009]

I have a cold I will pop one in since its $2

 

[india2050]

what a nonsensical comparison ...I dare anyone with malaria to take that drug ...here in India ,often called the generic medicine hub of the world, the best pharma companies in the world are sometimes unable to export to USA because of stringent FDA regulations ...and here comes someone who says they manufacture drugs in the lab ..wheres the quality control , where's the the study ...I agree it si great as a school project , but nothing more ...

martin Shkreli is another douchebag who reacts when he is not supposed to

 

[randomradio]

what a nonsensical comparison ...I dare anyone with malaria to take that drug ...here in India ,often called the generic medicine hub of the world, the best pharma companies in the world are sometimes unable to export to USA because of stringent FDA regulations ...and here comes someone who says they manufacture drugs in the lab ..wheres the quality control , where's the the study ...I agree it si great as a school project , but nothing more ...

martin Shkreli is another douchebag who reacts when he is not supposed to

The point is, the drug actually costs $13.5. The company sells it above that price because it has no competition. The $2 production proves you don't have to sell it at $750 per dose.

 

[india2050]

The point is, the drug actually costs $13.5. The company sells it above that price because it has no competition. The $2 production proves you don't have to sell it at $750 per dose.

Dude ...even comparing with 13.5 dollars , can you scale up production to a million tablets per day using laboratory equipment and due manufacturing processes including efficiency ...it was a school lab experiment , nothing more ...

Martin shkreli is a rodent , to have priced it at 750 dollars , but thats not the point ...

 

[randomradio]

Dude ...even comparing with 13.5 dollars , can you scale up production to a million tablets per day using laboratory equipment and due manufacturing processes including efficiency ...it was a school lab experiment , nothing more ...

Martin shkreli is a rodent , to have priced it at 750 dollars , but thats not the point ...

Dude, the company was selling the drug for $13.50 and then raised prices to $750 because there was no competition. The same drug costs $0.10 in India.