CEO of Turing Pharmaceuticals Mark Shkreli, criticized for prioritizing company profits over the welfare of his clients, is getting a taste of his own free-market medicine.

After his recent 550 percent increase of the potentially lifesaving drug Daraprim to $750 per pill, Shkreli must now face Imprimis Pharmaceuticals and its 99-cent-per-pill alternative.

Imprimis Pharmaceuticals is the laissez-faire yang to Turing’s yin.While a corporation is currently free to make a ridiculous and potentially dangerous price increase, so too is a corporate entity able to undercut competition for such a mark-up.

Daraprim, a trade name for the drug pyrimethamine, is listed by the World Health Organization (WHO) as an essential medicine, which the WHO describes as “those drugs that satisfy the health care needs of the majority of the population; they should therefore be available at all times … at a price the community can afford.”

Shkreli’s background is in economics and stock trading, not medicine, and he has prioritized economics over the ethics of Hippocrates.

This behavior is seemingly common among the pharmaceutical industry and has stained public perception of one of the most historically innovative and creative fields of science.

Turing bought the exclusive American rights to the drug this year.

However, Imprimis has made use of laws regarding compound medications to make available a compound of pyrimethamine and leucovorin, a form of folic acid often already used in conjunction with pyrimethamine to dampen toxicity.

“Today, some drug prices are simply out of control and we believe we may be able to help control costs by offering compounded alternatives to several sole-source legacy generic drugs,” stated Mark L. Baum, CEO of Imprimis, in a press release.

In response to the acquisition of Daraprim by Turing and other cases Imprimis intends to pursue in the future, the company has created the program Imprimis Cares, which intends to work with doctors and insurers to provide affordable compounds when generic drugs are too expensive.

“It’s a counterbalance,” Baum said. “If they want to do this stuff, god bless them, let them do it. We just want to be able to offer an alternative, a counterbalance.”

Though pharmaceutical companies are ultimately businesses with a bottom end, they are in a particular dynamic with the public as a provider of basic health services.

They have been given explicit moral responsibility and power in the care of the nation. To abuse this authority is to betray a basic national covenant.To this end, Baum agrees lifesaving drugs should not be treated like some financial asset.

“Right now its patients with HIV AIDs and toxoplasmosis, but tomorrow it could be some condition that affects your cousin or brother or aunt or uncle, someone you love,” Baum said.

Imprimis’ recent release of an alternative to Daraprim and announcement of the beginning of Imprimis Cares – good moves for PR and the company’s reputation – demonstrate the ability of the market to act both intelligently and with morality.

However, it cannot be the end solution for pharmaceutical profiteering.

Emry Dinman is a junior communication major from Seattle. He can be contacted at 335-2290 or by [email protected]. The opinions expressed in this column are not necessarily those of the staff of The Daily Evergreen or those of the Office of Student Media.