Turing Pharmaceuticals AG is currently in the process of formulating plans to lower its drug, Daraprim by as much as 50 percent.
While the news may appear all good, there is a catch: not all people may benefit from the price drop.
The discount that consumers may enjoy will vary and will be based on the total utilization or how much of the medicine is being used by a hospital. Aside from that, patients who are not admitted to a hospital will be exempted from receiving a discount. With this, out-of-hospital users will still have to turn into their insurance firms to pay for the cost of the medicine.
The discounts that will be given to hospital patients is just a part of Turing's actions for addressing the impacts of the Daraprim price hike, which the company initiated in September 2015.
Aside from the price drop, Turing will begin selling the medicine in bottles, containing 30 pills. Such intervention is said to aid hospitals that do not commonly use the drug, as it will not need to go through all of the bottles that contain 100 pills. Turing will also begin to provide free samples to doctors, who may give it to patients starting on Daraprim.
The exact date of the price drop announcement has not been confirmed yet. When asked during the early part of November 2015, Turing's CEO Martin Shkreli just said there will be a modest decrease in Daraprim cost come Christmas time.
"We'll announce when we announce," he said.
In September 2015, Turing Pharmaceuticals, particularly Shkreli, was condemned both by the public and several government officials after it shoot up the cost of Daraprim, which is the only FDA-approved drug for toxoplasmosis. From $13.50 per pill, Shkreli raised it up to $750 after the company acquired the U.S. marketing rights for the drug from Impax Laboratories, Inc. in August 2015.
The price hike pushed Democratic presidentiables Hillary Clinton and U.S. senator Bernie Sanders, as well as other legislators to demand an explanation from Shkreli.
Turing's move also sparked price hike controversies across the pharmaceutical industry. With this, the U.S. senate initiated a bipartisan investigation regarding the issue.
In October 2015, Turing found a match as Imprimis Pharmaceuticals launched their version of Daraprim that retails at only $1 per pill.
