As usual, Tom Lucente did only half of his homework for his column on the price hike of Daraprim. As usual he gave only half of the story so that he can attack the “leftists” that he sees behind every bush and tree.
There currently is no generic version of Daraprim in the U.S. because the market is small for this drug whose patent expired 62 years ago; too small in fact for generic drug companies to justify investing in obtaining FDA approval when the drug was selling for $1 a tablet. Generic versions of Daraprim are currently selling in India for 5 to 10 cents per pill. However, we can’t just bring them into the U.S. without first having the FDA verify that their formulations are safe for consumers (which is what they do!). In Lucente’s world of anarchy, they would be allowed to be imported regardless of their potential side effects and “market forces” (perhaps a few deaths) would determine their safety and whether consumers would continue to purchase them.
Certainly, Mr. Skreli is within his legal rights to purchase the manufacturing rights to Daraprim for $55 million and then attempt to recoup his investment (and more) by temporarily exploiting the market and charging exorbitant prices. We may even find that he and his investors lose money when it all shakes out. But Lucente’s article should have been about Mr. Skreli’s past record of exploiting market situations to “pump and dump” stock investments.
— John B. Fanger, Lima
