Martin Shkreli's pharmaceutical company will significantly boost the price of a lifesaving drug for the parasitic infection Chagas disease. The ex-hedge fund manager announced last week in a conference call with the company's investors that it had purchased the Chagas medication, and would price the treatment close to hepatitis C drugs. A full hepatitis C treatment can cost patients a sky-high $80,000.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that Chagas disease affects 300,000 Americans, and is spread by the droppings of the "kissing beetle." It can cause heart failure or even death if a sufferer is not treated quickly.
KaloBios Pharmaceuticals Inc. purchased the prescription drug benznidazole. The United States' Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has not approved it yet.
This medicine is already free for low-income patients through the CDC, according to New York Daily News. However, doctors are concerned that the Chagas disease drug's price hike will make it unaffordable for uninsured people.
Dr. Sheba Meymandi is the director of a UCLA Chagas disease treatment center. She said that Shkreli's price increase shows that that kindness does not exist in the drug industry anymore.
Shkreli's company can earn millions of dollars since benznidazole is not FDA-approved. A government voucher program allows it to develop the medication and then sell it at a high profit margin.
KaloBios Pharmaceuticals' spokesman Edward Painter claimed that the company has no plan to increase the drug's price. He said that the price will be close to hepatitis C anti-viral medicines.
During the past year Shkreli earned the moniker "most hated man in America" by increasing prices of other drugs. That included a human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) drug that was jacked up over 5,000 percent.
Shkreli also made headline news earlier this week when he purchased the only copy of the new Wu-Tang Clan hip-hop album, according to Vox. The price tag was about $2 million.
Here are some facts about Chagas disease: