Anybody hear about the drug that went from $15.00 to $750.00 overnight ?

[Gorn Captain]

A friend once told me: getting well again is for people who have money. The rest of us are expendable.
Hey, I'm finally one of the Expendables!!!

[MIB41]

This should serve as another reminder of what really drives the cost of insurance as high as it's getting. Does anyone ever stop and ask themselves why they constantly see nonstop drug commercials during prime time television? I've been in the business for almost 30 years and I can tell you without hesitation the pharmaceutical industry is a utter and complete joke with virtually no accountability in what drives costs up everywhere. They are the oil companies in the medical field. People get so divisive about the insurance piece, they tend to forget premiums are driven on costs. Someone has to reimburse those companies for their products and services, yet somehow those concepts are lost on the consumer because everyone wants to apply 50's thinking and believe their Blue Cross plan absorbs it all for them. It fascinates me with the modern age and internet where flash mob outrage is all the rave, how drug companies get a pass for showing nonstop commercials, yet no one questions the costs for running this stuff all day and well into prime time. I mean do we really ever need to see another commercial in our lifetime for men who can't get it up? I must see them 20 times a week and more prominently during football. I guess that's the suspect consumer, eh?

The public needs to put their foot down on this abuse. Pharmaceutical reps routinely go to doctor's office's and take them out to lunch to push their drugs. And they'll do it every day, of every week, of every month, of every year. The average consumer has no idea how invasive and manipulating the drug companies are in getting their profits. And here you think the doctor is giving you medicine best for your circumstances? Hmmm. Not always. And don't even get me started on the "Affordable Care Act". In a nutshell what it really does is just shift the cost of catastrophic coverage onto the public, whereas before the hospitals and insurance companies had to pay into a pool. Trust me. They like ACA just fine. What the system really needed was to just to be better regulated. It's certainly not right now and with a incredibly bad alternative like ACA, insurance companies are having to buy one another up in order to survive the impact of costs. Aetna just made a bid to buy Humana and Anthem bought Cigna. It will take a couple of years for all of this to find the proper approvals but without these mergers, these companies would go under. Trust me when I say, if the public does not get wise soon and quit being led by the nose by politicians (with the drug companies in their back pocket), it will only get worse. They are paid to divert attention away from the real problems and point to the usual suspects. Insurance companies do not set the market for the cost of healthcare. The hospitals, providers, and drug companies do. Add in the widespread fraud involved in the reimbursement process, and it's amazing we have any insurance companies standing at all.

[Mr.Marion]

karma collected.Martin Shkreli in custody after securities probe

FILE - In this Oct. 1, 2015 file photo, AIDS activists pour cat litter on an image of Turing Pharmaceuticals CEO Martin Shkreli in a makeshift cat litter pan during a protest highlighting pharmaceutical drug pricing in New York. Shkreli, the former hedge fund manager under fire for buying a pharmaceutical company and ratcheting up the price of a life-saving drug, is in custody following a securities probe, Thursday, Dec. 17, 2015.

NEW YORK (AP) — Martin Shkreli, the former hedge fund manager under fire for buying a pharmaceutical company and ratcheting up the price of a life-saving drug, is in custody following a securities probe.
Calls to an attorney who has represented Shkreli in the past were not immediately returned. His arrest was confirmed Thursday by FBI spokeswoman Kelly Langmesser.

Shkreli stirred public outrage earlier this fall when his company, Turing Pharmaceuticals jacked the price of a drug used to treat a life-threatening infection by more than 5,000 percent. Turing raised the price on Daraprim, a 62-year-old drug whose patent expired decades ago, from $13.50 to $750 per pill. The drug is the only approved treatment for a rare parasitic infection called toxoplasmosis that mainly strikes pregnant women, cancer patients and AIDS patients.

Shkreli said the company would cut the drug's price. Last month, however, Turing reneged on its pledge. Instead, the company is reducing what it charges hospitals for Daraprim by as much as 50 percent. Most patients' copayments will be capped at $10 or less a month. But insurance companies will be stuck with the bulk of the tab, potentially driving up future treatment and insurance costs.

Turing, with offices in New York and Switzerland, bought U.S. rights to sell Daraprim in August, when it had no competition. Daraprim is one of numerous old drugs with limited competition whose makers have raised prices sharply.

Rising pharmaceutical prices has become a topic in the upcoming U.S. presidential race.

[PNGwynne]

Love it.

[EmergencyIan]

Right on!!!! That's beautiful!


- Ian

[enyawd72]

Where's his cocky little smirk now? Piece of human trash.

[FETT1]

Where's his cocky little smirk now? Piece of human trash.

YOU SAID IT !!!!...Another GREEDY freakoid ....

[enyawd72]

YOU SAID IT !!!!...Another GREEDY freakoid ....

Yep.

You know, I'm not a violent person at all, but I swear...when I saw that interview with this punk a few months back I just wanted to punch him right in the face.

[Confessional]

Wu-Tang that!

[Mr.Marion]

Wu-Tang that!

He thought he had to buy that $2 million Wu Tang album to live out his criminal fantasies.

Turned out he just had to wait another week or two.

[Drzsmith]

i currently am on a prescription that my ins wont cover that costs me $400 a month.

[skid14]

i blew like 25k on meds in two years that my ins wouldnt cover at the time..and it was stuff i really had to have..its all a joke.

[Duncan]

Just wanted to bring this thread back for a minute to point something out. On Sept 22, 2015 when the thread was started, Valeant was $216.76 per share. Today it's $25.48. A lot of people lost a lot of money on this company.

[Mr.Marion]

Just wanted to bring this thread back for a minute to point something out. On Sept 22, 2015 when the thread was started, Valeant was $216.76 per share. Today it's $25.48. A lot of people lost a lot of money on this company.

Yes you were the only one who bragged about their stock raising. It serves the investors right for not jumping off when they found out the CEO was more crooked than a barrel of snakes.

[MIB41]

Makes my day! Finally some justice served.