Why spend $750 a dose for a drug you can get for $1? [View all]
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/why-spend-750-a-dose-for-a-drug-you-can-get-for-1/
Turing Pharmaceutical's controversial move to boost the price it charges for Daraprim from $13.50 a pill to $750 has at least one competitor pledging to offer an equivalent compound that treats a rare parasitic disease -- for just $1 a dose.
"Even at that price, we are going to make a lot of money," Mark Baum, founder of San Diego-based Imprimis Pharmaceuticals (IMMY), told CBS MoneyWatch in a phone interview. "We're just not going to gouge people."
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He said tremendous savings can be realized if physicians take the time to write out the actual active ingredients for their patient, instead of taking the short cut of using the generic's trade name for the prescription. "All of the ingredients we are using are made in FDA-regulated laboratories," Baum said.
Imprimis' business plan, according to its website, is to do end runs around the conventional drug industry by "using compounding pharmacies for the formulation and distribution of high quality, proprietary formulations that are supported by the clinical experience of physicians and their patients."