Hillary Clinton called out a former hedge fund manager by name for acquiring a more than 60-year old drug and raising its price to $750 per tablet from $13.50.
In a wide-ranging Facebook Q&A, Clinton called on Turing Pharmaceuticals founder and CEO Martin Shkreli to "lower the cost today to its original price," something Shkreli has already vowed to do.
In an interview with ABC News, Shkreli said the company had “agreed to lower the price on Daraprim to a point that is affordable and is able to allow the company to make a profit, but a very small profit.”
“Did you see the outcry last week about the former hedge fund manager who bought up drug patents, then raised the price of medicine for AIDS patients by more than 5000%? He still hasn’t said how much the drug will cost going forward, and in the meantime, sick patients still have to wait and worry and continue to pay $750/pill,” Clinton said on Facebook. “So Mr. Shkreli, what’s it going to be? Do the right thing. Lower the cost today to its original price.”
Clinton’s remarks were in response to a question from a woman on Facebook who asked “how can we get prescription drug cost down for everyone not just Medicare.”
Clinton, who recently detailed her plans to decrease the cost of prescription drugs, said she wants to “require the largest drug manufactures to invest a minimum amount in ‘research and development,’ including “using some of these new research funds to invest directly in producing generic competitors where none exist.
Clinton’s comments on Facebook today echoed a response she made on Facebook last week, calling price gouging in the "specialty drug market … outrageous."
Price gouging like this in the specialty drug market is outrageous. Tomorrow I'll lay out a plan to take it on. -H https://t.co/9Z0Aw7aI6h— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) September 21, 2015