Martin Shkreli is sparking an outrage once more with his latest announcement of increasing the price of another life-saving drug. He plans to increase the cost of a drug used to treat Chagas disease, a deadly parasitic infection.
Immortal News reports that the American entrepreneur led a group of investors in November to buy controlling interest of a biotechnology company based in California. After the acquisition, he agreed to license the worldwide rights of a drug known as benznidazole.
The shares of the California-based company were reportedly sold for around $1.50 per share on the open market. It is now sold more than 18 times landing at around $28 a share.
Benznidazole is a standard treatment for Chagas disease which can be lethal. The disease is most prominent in Central and South America. However, the drug never received an FDA approval to be sold in the United States.
A complete treatment using the drug will cost about $50 to $100 in Latin America. The complete session will last for a few months.
During a conference call with KaloBios investors last week, Shkreli showed signs that he plans to hike the drug's cost in the United States, similar to the controversial hike of Daraprim drug in September.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are currently giving out the benznidazole to patients for free on an experimental basis.
Almost all 300,000 infected with the disease in the U.S. are Latin American immigrants who were diagnosed with the disease long before they transferred to the United States.
The said potentially deadly infection is caused by a parasite known as Trypanosoma cruzi. This is typically found in the feces of the kissing bug which is known to bite directly on the face.
Previous estimates that deaths caused by the disease are around 12,500 people a year.
New York Times reports that this recent price hike has caused a lot of angst in the Chagas community. More so, Shkreli also aims to take advantage of a federal program that gives hundreds of millions of dollars. All he needs to do is obtain an FA approval for the Chagas drug that is currently used in other countries.
While he didn't actually develop the drug, he will obtain an FDA approval which will land him millions of dollars.
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