Rival pharmaceutical makes $1 AIDS drug after Turing’s Martin Shkreli hiked prices by 5000 per cent

THIS man pushed up the price of a lifesaving AIDS drug by 5000 per cent. Now a competitor plans to offer a similar pill at a fraction of the original cost.

SEIZING on the furore over eye-popping price spikes for old generic medicines, a maker of compounded drugs will begin selling AU$1.30 doses of Daraprim after a rival company jacked up the price of each pill to AU$1030.

Turing Pharmaceuticals chief executive Martin Shkreli was blasted as the “greediest person of all time” after last month buying rights to and then increasing by more than 5000 per cent the original AU$18.60 price of Daraprim.

The 62-year-old drug had no competition, costs about $1 to make, and fights parasitic infections that particularly strike AIDS patients.

Now San Diego-based Imprimis Pharmaceuticals Inc, which mixes approved drug ingredients to fill individual patient prescriptions, has announced it would provide a much cheaper alternative, supplying capsules containing Daraprim’s active ingredients, pyrimethamine and leucovorin, for $130 for a 100-capsule bottle.

Labelled ‘the greediest person of all time’ ... Turing Pharmaceuticals CEO and former hedge fund manager Martin Shkreli became extremely unpopular after his controversial decision to hike up prices of Daraprim. Picture: Twitter

“While we respect Turing’s right to charge patients and insurance companies whatever it believes is appropriate, there may be more cost-effective compounded options for medications, such as Daraprim, for patients, physicians, insurance companies and pharmacy benefit managers to consider,” Imprimis chief executive Mark Baum said in a statement.

“This is not the first time a sole supply generic drug — especially one that has been approved for use as long as Daraprim — has had its price increased suddenly and to a level that may make it unaffordable.”

Inaccessible ... Daraprim treats toxoplasmosis, an opportunistic parasitic infection that can cause serious life-threatening illness. Picture: Twitter

The 3.5-year-old drug compounding firm also plans to start making inexpensive versions of other generic drugs whose prices have skyrocketed, Baum said.

“We are looking at all of these cases where the sole-source generic companies are jacking the price way up,” Baum said.

Soon on the market ... Imprimis Pharmaceuticals will supply much cheaper capsules containing Daraprim’s active ingredients, pyrimethamine and leucovorin. Picture: Passage Productions/AP.

Turing’s Shkreli, under fire from all sides, said late last month that he would lower the price of Daraprim, but hasn’t so far.

The start-up drugmaker paid Impax Laboratories $75 million in August for rights to Daraprim, which treats a rare parasitic infection called toxoplasmosis that affects pregnant women, cancer patients and AIDS patients.