Marketed in the United States as Daraprim, pyrimethamine is a medicine used to treat toxoplasmosis, an infection that can cause serious complications in people with weakened immune systems, such as people with AIDS, as well as in babies. born to women who were infected during pregnancy.
Last August, this 62-year-old drug was acquired by the start-up Turing Pharmaceuticals, which then decided to increase the price. An increase that leaves the medical community speechless: the drug has indeed gone from $ 13.50 to $ 750 per tablet, which will cost some patients several hundred thousand dollars to treat themselves.
The Society for Infectious Diseases and the Association against AIDS sent a joint letter to the founder and CEO of the start-up, Martin Shkreli, explaining that this increase of more than 5000% is “unjustifiable for the patient population medically. vulnerable “and” unsustainable for the health care system. “
The CEO replied that this rarely used drug had to be in line with the price of drugs for rare diseases and explained that the profit made on Daraprim will fund research for better treatments against toxoplasmosis, with less money. ‘Side effects.
In the United States, hospitals will be able to obtain the drug more cheaply under certain federal rules. But private insurers, health insurance and hospital patients will have to pay an amount closer to that advertised.
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