Most hated man on the internet’ breaks pledge to lower cost of HIV-treating drug
Martin Shkreli, the man dubbed ‘the most hated on the internet’, has maintained the 5,000 per cent inflated price of HIV-treating drugs despite pledging to lower it after international outcry.
The CEO of Turing Pharmaceuticals bought the rights to Daraprim, a drug used to treat those with weakened immune systems caused by illnesses like HIV. He then hiked up the price of the drug by 5,000 per cent from $13.50 per pill to $750.
After being widely criticised by medical groups, health experts and presidential hopefuls on both political sides, the 32-year-old vowed to lower the cost of the pills but did not specify what this cost would be.
It has now emerged that Turing Pharmaceuticals will not lower the drug as it wouldn’t “translate into a benefit for patients”. Instead, the company have said they will reduce the price for hospitals by up to 50 per cent.
