Why Daraprim Australian Schoolchildren Does Not Affect Martin Screhere

Martin Shkreli takes part in discussions on the drugs sold by his company with interest.

A few days ago on Geektimes was published the news about the synthesis of Daraprim by Australian schoolchildren. It is used to treat patients with toxoplasmosis and malaria, and is especially needed by HIV-infected patients. The cost of this drug in the US was relatively low, until Martin Shkreli bought the rights to Daraprim. He raised the price of medicine 56 times overnight, from $ 13.50 to $ 750 per pill. The entrepreneur’s peculiarities allow us to do this (by the way, the described problem does not concern Russia or other countries - here the same drug (the second name is pyrimethamine) is produced and supplied by completely different companies).

Australian students, led by chemistry teacher Alice Williamson, a postgraduate chemist, were able to obtain this drug in a school lab. And the final substance turned out very clean. Many media outlets published articles that said something like “Schoolchildren bypassed Martin Shkreli”, “schoolchildren solve the problems of US law. Forbes even published an article stating that high school students “slapped Martin Shkreli, figuratively speaking.” In fact, schoolchildren receiving a drug is an excellent chemical experiment that shows the quality of schooling in Australia and demonstrates the mental and organizational skills of schoolchildren. But only. On Shkreli and his company all this does not affect, and here's why.


So, first again a little about the problem itself. Daraprim is not just the name of the medicinal product, but a trademark protected by US laws (this country practically does not concern other countries, as mentioned above). Daraprim could be issued under other names, but for this company, which will undertake to do this, will take many years, because US regulators will have to approve the drug and allow it to be sold. It is expensive and long. In one of the campaign speeches, Donald Trump, the current president of the United States, said that the average time to release a new drug in this country is 12 years, and promised to simplify the legislative process for pharmacists.
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Despite the fact that Daraprim is available from the 50s, a similar drug under other names in this country has not been produced and has not been supplied. Therefore, Shkreli can change the price, as he himself wants - the regulator can not influence this. The idea that Shkreli raised the price, since other companies or individuals simply do not know how to synthesize this drug, is absurd. Pharmacists understand the complexity of the situation, but so far nothing can be done. Shkreli is right when on the question of whether he feels the competition from schoolchildren, he answers “no”. It really is.


For $ 55 million, he bought the rights to the Daraprim trademark (the patent has already expired, as was rightly noted in the previous article), and created a controlled distribution scheme for this drug, with the ability to play with the price. Even if Shkreli’s competitors decide to start producing a generic in the US, it will not be easy, for the reasons described above. Now the drug is delivered in the US through two channels - Turing (for hospital patients) and Walgreens Specialty Pharmacy (for outpatients).



»Daraprim easy to get in the laboratory. Almost any pharmaceutical company could synthesize a drug. Schoolchildren from Sydney did not make any breakthrough - they just had a great procedure for the chemical synthesis of organic matter. Any competent specialist in organic chemistry could do the same without any problems, and professors from Sydney know this, of course, as well as others, " said Derek Low , a chemist and pharmacist who writes for Science.

He also spoke about some interesting points from the world of pharmaceuticals. For example, the cost of a drug does not depend on the initial ingredients or the cost of synthesis. Pharmacists usually try to reduce the cost of medicines, but this is not at all a factor in price. As an example, cars. Different models of cars are sold at different prices. However, steel and aluminum, which are used in the construction of vehicles, are supplied from approximately the same places, and the cost of the components is also approximately equal. The price depends on completely different factors than the original components.

For obvious reasons, students cannot sell the drugs they create.


Shkreli himself wrote that "the production of drugs in the laboratory" on an industrial scale requires millions of US dollars. Therefore, small manufacturers, even without the peculiarities of US law, could not quickly start production of this drug.

Whatever it was, the project of Australian high school students was able, first, to attract public attention to such a specific problem. And secondly, the students themselves are now interested in chemistry much more than before. Some representatives of the team said they would like to get a degree in chemistry. It is also worth a lot.