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The ABC news website (an Australian national news service funded by the Australian government) reports on a group of high school students from Sydney Australia who have managed to recreate the active ingredient in Daraprim for a mere $20.
Daraprim has received a lot of coverage recently after Turing Pharmaceuticals who owns the patent, initially raised the price of the drug from $13.50 to $750.00, though they have since stated that the price will be reduced.
From the article:
For $US20, a group of high school students has created 3.7 grams of an active ingredient used in the medicine Daraprim, which would sell in the United States for between $US35,000 and $US110,000.
Pyrimethamine, the active ingredient in Daraprim, treats a parasitic infection in people with weak immune systems such as pregnant women and HIV patients.
In August 2015, the price of Daraprim in the US rose from $US13.50 per tablet to $US750 when Turing Pharmaceuticals, and its controversial then-chief executive Martin Shkreli, acquired the drug's exclusive rights and hiked up the price.
Since then, the 17-year-olds from Sydney Grammar have worked in their school laboratory to create the drug cheaply in order to draw attention to its inflated price overseas, which student Milan Leonard said was "ridiculous".
(Score: 2) by melikamp on Thursday December 01 2016, @05:29PM
(Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 01 2016, @05:45PM
Alright, I'll just blame you for being a sociopathic piece of shit.
(Score: 2) by Pino P on Thursday December 01 2016, @06:05PM
what was the last time you voted or campaigned for a politician who firmly opposes patents and copyrights?
When I donated to Larry Lessig's presidential campaign, which the DNC obstructed by playing Calvinball with debate eligibility.
Other candidates don't include anti-copyright planks in their platform because they know they'll lose news coverage that way. All major U.S. TV news sources have a conflict of interest against anti-copyright candidates because NBC, ABC, CBS, CNN, and Fox News all share a parent company with an MPAA movie studio: Universal, Disney, Paramount, Warner Bros., and Last Century Fox respectively.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 01 2016, @06:10PM
> Are we to expect that public shaming of law-abiding entrepreneurs will fix the clusterfuck that is medical patents?
This is the same old bullshit "you aren't protesting correctly" concern-trolling diversion.
The answer is YES.
Yes, public shaming of "law-abiding entrepreneurs" will fix the clusterfuck. It isn't sufficient, but it is a necessary part of the process. Without well-publicized examples of how the law is a failure, there will never be any wide-spread public support for fixing the law.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by bob_super on Thursday December 01 2016, @06:13PM
Both you and jmorris make the same mistake: The reason why there is only one manufacturer is because it targets a small market and, until Shkreli, had a cheap price.
It's not about patents, it's not about FDA approvals. The drug exists, is already authorized, and was priced by someone who intended to make reasonable money off it.
The old cheap price was not set by the evil government to strangle the previous manufacturer, for [bleep]'s sake!
Some guy got it approved, did his math, and decided that $13.50 was a nice profit. Others looked at it, saw they could legally make a generic for $X, and decided that X 13.50 was not a good ROI given the market size. No government-granted monopoly there, just a an initial investment in getting the generic approved and a production line started.
Now that the asshole (what happened to my beeper?) raised the price so much, others want to make that generic because it will sell for more than $13.50, so it's worth investing the time and capital. But that takes a while. because bad medications are dangerous, so you need a review process.
That ain't government stranglehold, it's the free market at its best/worst!
(Score: 2) by melikamp on Thursday December 01 2016, @10:07PM
You are right, I went off-topic there, I just plain forgot this case was not about patents... But I am still of the opinion that blaming and shaming the manufacturers is hypocritical, if not exactly counterproductive. Here the problem appears to be a combination of free market forces and legislation, so let's fix that, so that the next time someone hikes a price like that, patients can sue them.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 01 2016, @07:15PM
Original AC here who called Shkreli a douche, I was going to respond but I'm glad I checked the other posts first. They covered all the bases I can think of :) To re-illustrate one of the points, complaining and shaming is the most effective thing we peons can do. Our votes are unlikely to sway the propaganda and politically corrupt machine, and there is little else we can do. Large protest actions only happen when enough people are upset, so yes, complain and shame all the assholes that think they can get away with being assholes. Just because a system makes it easy for assholes to do what they do doesn't mean I won't call them out for doing it. Should we forgive all criminals because they cry about how hard a life they were born in to? If you say "never" then get off your own high horse.
(Score: 2) by melikamp on Thursday December 01 2016, @10:57PM
This is exactly upside-down, in my opinion. Shaming does not do shit, not to individuals, not to society as a whole. Some soft-brained children can be shamed into different actions, but that's about it. For a lesson on how well shaming works, look at Abrahamic religions. After 4000 years of near-constant shaming and complaining, we finally got everyone to be honest with their spouses and respectful to their parents, right? Oh, wait... Or how about shaming Trump for everything he said and done? How did that work out? I think your vote is more effective than joining a choir of hypocrites. You dismiss protests, and you don't talk of grass-roots political action, but these are far more effective than shaming, when your vote alone is not enough. You know you can protest all by yourself, right? Shaming is not effective precisely because shamers automatically assert the moral superiority, which is BS. The guy and the company do not have any moral responsibility to price the drug the way you want it, or indeed to produce it at all. If you want price control and/or availability, regardless of market pressures and whims, help to write it into the law. Pointing out character flaws will do absolutely nothing on the long run.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 02 2016, @12:14AM
Why are you so fixated on shaming?
That was your word.
It was the wrong word and it was a mistake to indulge you in accepting it.
This class didn't shame the pharmabro. They exposed his bullshit for everyone else to see.
(Score: 2) by melikamp on Friday December 02 2016, @12:20AM