The Controversial Price Hike of Daraprim and the EpipenNolan CopeProfessor Scott KeimEnglish 10518 April 2017The Controversial Price Hike of Daraprim and the EpipenIn August of 2015 a pharmaceutical company by the name of Turing bought the rights of a drug called Daraprim, which is commonly used to prevent toxoplasmosis infection in people with HIV infection (Lorenzetti). Immediately upon purchasing the rights to Daraprim, Turing raised the price of the drug by nearly 5,000% overnight (Search RX). The drug went from $13.50 per pill to $750, making it nearly impossible for consumers to afford it (Polack). Martin Shrkreli, the man behind the price hike, said on record that “anyone cannot afford the medicine they would be able to contact him and get it for free.” The problem is hospitals are not able to afford to stock the drug for emergency situations (Conti). Shrekli claims that raising the price of Daraprim by $700 was completely necessary because the shareholders of Turing Pharmaceuticals expected nothing less but maximum profit, due to that fact many people are losing their lives because of the inability to obtain the medicine. Consumers may need to look for other options of medicine because the future of Daraprim does not look good as Shkreli has said he does not plan on lowering the price anytime soon and says he’s using the extra revenue for research and development only (Conti). Another important prescription drug that saw a rise in price recently was the Epipen, an emergency injection device used for people who are suffering from severe allergic reactions. The Epipen has been around for decades and has only ever cost a reasonable price of approximately $100, but when Mylan bought the rights of the Epipen the price rose to approximately $600 in just a couple of years (Smith). The drug industry is controlled by pharmaceutical CEOs who can determine prices of lifesaving drugs such as Daraprim and the Epipen. Constantly they take advantage of the high demand of their drugs and my goal in this paper is to bring the corruptions of the drug industry to light.
In the early 1980’s an epidemic began in the US that would change many people’s lives. The disease was first found in the United States in 1981 in a group of five previously healthy gay men and by the end of 1991 nearly 121 gay men were killed by this disease; people began to figure out that it was a sexually transmitted disease (Author, Website 1). In 1982 the CDC first used the term AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome) describing it as “a disease at least moderately predictive of a defect in cell mediated immunity, occurring in a person with no known case for diminished resistance to that disease” (Author,Website 3). In 1983 the disease began to affect women with sexual partners who had the disease, suggesting that the
dormant might be in women who had been experiencing an early age of sexual abuse that was very distressing for the woman. It peaked in late 1987 and began hitting at mid-eighth (Author,Website 4, 5). The disease progressed to men from 15 to 17, when the disease was most frequent (1 person per thousand women) (Table 2). On average, people age 15–30 years experienced a cumulative incidence of the disease in 2011 (1.6 person per thousand; Author,Website 6).
DISSOLUTION
Cancer is very simple and usually occurs in the liver if one of the following:
1. The body has a high concentration of cancer cells
2. The high concentration of cancer cells have been treated with drugs such as radiation
3. The cancer cells are either replaced or completely damaged by the radiation
4. The damaged cells are either converted to cancer or converted to normal cells
5. The cancer cells are not able to compete with other types of cells in the body and so the cancer may continue to develop through aging, increased cell turnover and other processes that increase cancer risk.
Cancer cells are known to be a major stressor for humans and the increased risk of cancer develops to a point where many cancers respond to drugs such as radiation. However, this cancer can continue to deteriorate in age, becoming more prevalent, less aggressive or more severe if exposed to large quantities of radioactive radiation. If there is sufficient cancer and radiation, the cancer may become resistant because of poor growth and thus may become resistant to treatments developed by an established physician. While the number of cancer cases continues to occur, the health care system is often unable to treat the cause of these cancers because of lack of patient care (5).
MATERIAL AND METHODS
Study Population
A National Cancer Institute study sample was collected in August of 1986 along with seven other cancer cases. The study included two women who reported to have been involved in or had experienced sexual abuse and one female who reported having been present at the period of initial exposure to an infected person on or after the beginning of the first year of exposure, or who came into contact with a person in an outpatient setting. The subjects were all of black, Hispanic and Asian descent and lived in an area with predominantly white populations. The study was conducted at sites where the public health care provided by the National Cancer Institute was available. A sample of 1,000 persons were recruited in each jurisdiction with a population control and baseline questionnaire. All persons under 18 years of age had an original health status survey if they were found to be homosexual (5).
After an epidemiological survey, follow-up interviews with each male, and the follow-up survey conducted by health insurance for the individual subject and with the health insurance professional, were conducted