Pharma Exec: price rise of 400% is a "moral requirement"

A pharmaceutical company executive defended his decision to raise the price of an essential drug by 400%, claiming that the price increase was a "moral requirement to make money".

Nirmal Mulye, founder and president of Nostrum Laboratories in Missouri, spoke about the decision to bring the price of a bottle of nitrofurantoin antibiotic from $ 474.75 to $ 2,932 in an interview with the Financial Times Tuesday. The drug treats bladder infections and is considered by the World Health Organization as an "essential medicine" for a basic health care system.

"I think it's a moral requirement to make money when you can … to sell the product at the highest price," Mulye told the Financial Times.

If all this sounds familiar to you, you might have flashbacks when Martin Shkreli became a member of the public consciousness as a "Pharma Bro". Shkreli was publicly decried in 2015 for his decision to increase the price of the drug Daraprim from $ 13.50 to $ 750 per tablet.

And it is not surprising that Mulye mentioned and defended Shkreli's decision to increase Daraprim's price, saying that Shkreli was "in his rights because he had to reward his shareholders".

"If he is the only one selling it, he can earn as much money as possible," said Mulye. "It's a capitalist economy and if you can not make money, you can not stay in business."

(It should be mentioned that Shkreli is currently in prison for securities fraud unrelated to the price increase of Daraprim.)

Mulye's defense against rising prices from his own company was to say that he was in tune with the market – the competitor Casper Pharma has increased its own prices on the same drug over the last three years, bringing it up at $ 2,800. .

In Mulye's head, his version of the drug "is still an economy" compared to Casper, whether it's "a big [savings] or not."

Unsurprisingly, the Federal Drug Administration was not a fan of Mulye's comments, and in tweets after the publication of Mulye's interview, FDA Commissioner Dr. Scott Gottlieb wrote: " … there is no moral imperative gouge price and enjoy the patients. The FDA will continue to promote competition so that speculators and those who do not consider public health consequences can not benefit patients who need medication. "

Gottlieb claimed that the drug in question was not in short supply, highlighting the fact that the liquid version of Nostrum's drug was not being marketed actively – a fact confirmed by Mulye in a follow-up, and the CEO declaring that the price could change again, depending on the market.

Mulye, in this follow-up, then called the FDA "incompetent and corrupt".

Read Dianne's latest stories from Guzman and send him news to [email protected].

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