Report: Pharma exec says he had 'moral requirement' to raise drug price 400%

[PatrickforO]

Source: CNN

(CNN)A pharmaceutical company executive defended his company's recent 400% drug price increase, telling the Financial Times that his company had a "moral requirement to sell the product at the highest price." The head of the US Food and Drug Administration blasted the executive in a response on Twitter.

Nirmal Mulye, founder and president of Nostrum Pharmaceuticals, commented in a story Tuesday about the decision to raise the price of an antibiotic mixture called nitrofurantoin from about $500 per bottle to more than $2,300. The drug is listed by the World Health Organization as an "essential" medicine for lower urinary tract infections.

"I think it is a moral requirement to make money when you can," Mulye told the Financial Times, "to sell the product for the highest price."
The Financial Times said Mulye compared his decision to increase the price to that of an art dealer who sells "a painting for half a billion dollars" and said he was in "this business to make money."

Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2018/09/11/health/drug-price-hike-moral-requirement-bn/index.html

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First, Medicare for all Americans with the government empowered to negotiate prices down. The profit motive doesn't mix with healthcare.

Second, the government needs to force changes in the corporate charters of publicly held companies doing business in the USA to expand fiduciary responsibility beyond shareholders to the welfare of workers, consumers and the environment. Do this, and problems like this will be nipped in the bud.

[Maeve]

1. Moral...he uses that word, but I don't think he knows what it means....

Blessed are those who become rich off the backs of the poor....yeah, which verse is that again?

[Ramsey Barner]

34. Nostrum...he uses that word, but I don't think he knows what it means....

": a medicine of secret composition recommended by its preparer but usually without scientific proof of its effectiveness

: a usually questionable remedy or scheme"

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/nostrum

[Maeve]

36. Yes, ignorant as well as greedy!

Who else does that remind me of?

[Cattledog]

2. Scum. That's all you need to know about this guy.

[YOHABLO]

3. Just saw a program on how hospitals raise medications 1000% ! They blame that on the poor.

Yeah, to cover those who can't pay. Yeah, like it doesn't cover the CEOs and top administrators bottom line GREED!

[Solly Mack]

4. And I'd think it moral if he were to be ...

Let your imagination run free.

[sakabatou]

5. The man would rather see people die than actually help them

[Judi Lynn]

28. Not so fast, there. He might hope they will linger until they are totally bankrupt!

Nirmal Mulye, and Mini-Nirmal.

[Vinca]

6. Morals according to Trump.

[dchill]

20. Yes. Exactly in line with Trump Bizarro World morality.

[enough]

7. Someone has now perfectly explained the Trump/Republican worldview.

A moral requirement to make money when you can.

[dlk]

8. When Unbridled Capitalism is Your God, This Makes Perfect Sense

[alwaysinasnit]

9. Medicare Part D, when enacted by Republicans, specifically prohibited the federal government

from negotiating drug prices.

https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2016/10/drug-industry-pharmaceutical-lobbyists-medicare-part-d-prices/

This led to pretty much a free-for-all on gouging consumers by pharmaceutical companies.

[NRaleighLiberal]

10. Deplorable.

[Liberalhammer]

11. Here's the email for the scumbag

[e-mail]

[DBoon]

12. Ayn Rand is dead

but her evil lives on

[UpInArms]

13. Up is down

Right is wrong

War is peace

[noneof_theabove]

14. He is partly right...

by legal/law the purpose of a company is to increase shareholder value.
Now, define value and does increase have a limit.

On the hospital profit.
All but 2 around me are part of Christus Spohn, the Catholic Church.

They are "non-profit" so I guess the "donate" lots of gold leaf to the Vatican.

We need health care for all like the rest of the modern world.

Easily done. FIETS [ Federal Ingress Egress Tax System]
[ As the Constitution reads "equality for all" ]

2% transfer fee on funds transfer into a bank account and 2% when transfered out.
$5 Trillion per day go through the banking system.
So, the Federal Budget get about $24 Trillion per year. [2018 is 3.8 estimated to end at 4.2 deficit]
See what happens then the rich pay their fair share of taxation.
McMansion 2% on seller and 2% on buyer for $20,000,000 sale that is $400,000 each.
Want the economy VW Beetle for $20,000 that is $400 each for Uncle Sam.
Loaf of bread at grocery for $1 that is $0.02 each.

Now, that a REAL TAX REFUND, you make $50,000 and spend it all that is $2,000 [1k in and 1k out] for your taxes.
Oh, if you move in and out of a savings account no fees.

[tymorial]

16. Non profit hospitals are required to reinvest any surplus back into the systen

Further, they may be not for profit rather than non profit. Further further, after 22 years working in healthcare (mostly in not for profit organizations) I would bet they operate in the red. Most do. Now that is entirely dependent on the location, whether or not they are education centers (med students and recidency) and if they are part of a healthcare system. The last one is probably the most important indicator because large orgs like partners in massachusetts have tremendous influence. They negotiate better rates from payers because of their substantial provider and service offerings. It impacts competition and forces groups to join or die due to loss of patient volume and lower rates.

It's true that some not for profit hospitals do operate in the black but it's been my experience that it is relatively uncommon. Catholic hospitals despite arguments against typically fall in the "red" category.

[LiberalFighter]

15. How is it morally right?

There is nothing moral about ripping other people off.

[pangaia]

17. CAPITALISM----- sucks !!!!!!!!!

[Staph]

18. The corporation name is sooooooo appropriate!

From the Oxford Living Dictionaries (online):

Nostrum -- A medicine prepared by an unqualified person, especially one that is not considered effective.

Who gives their company that kind of name?

[sharedvalues]

19. This is what E Warren is fighting against.

She’s got a new bill to fix this bullsh*t of short-term profits uber alles.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.vox.com/platform/amp/2018/8/15/17683022/elizabeth-warren-accountable-capitalism-corporations

[PatrickforO]

37. Yes, we all need to find out more about this Act and how we can support

it. It would be nice if Warren circulated a petition. I'd sure as heck sign.

[knightmaar]

21. I'm sure that was right in the bible

Paul's letter to the Douchebags, I think.

Dbag 11:1
Thou shalt charge as much as the market shall bear, even that some may perish for lack of medicine.

[47of74]

22. Report: 47of74 has a "moral requirement" to say fuck you to this executive.

[Ilsa]

23. War on women.

It is usually women with lower UTIs because of the shorter urethra. This price hike hurts them and their insurers disproportionately.

Can they jack up the price of Viagra because men will pay exorbitant rates for sex?

[McCamy Taylor]

24. Maybe if he is a Feringi

[Midnight Writer]

25. Prosperity Gospel. God obviously wants this man to be rich. Replaces dusty outdated New Testament.

[SergeStorms]

27. If god existed....

that asshole would already be dead.

[SergeStorms]

26. WTF?

If that's an example of your "morals", I'd hate to see what your debauchery is like! Piece of shit pharmaceutical companies. We need Democrats in office that are going to take on these stinking crooks. I think our government has a "moral" obligation to slap as many regulations on those bastards as is humanly poaaible. Let them get a taste of our "morals".

[PatrickforO]

38. Above you in this thread is a fantastic idea that Sen. Eliz. Warren has

It's called The Accountable Capitalism Act, and would solve many, many of these problems. Yes, we'd still need a strong regulatory structure, but this would be a great help in turning the moral compass of this nation back toward the North Star.

Here's a link. https://www.vox.com/2018/8/15/17683022/elizabeth-warren-accountable-capitalism-corporations

[SamKnause]

29. He doesn't know the definition of moral.

Maybe he is part of the rising Prosperity Gospel movement.

They have fully infested the Trump White House.

The movement worships money and power.

Morality has no place in their beliefs.

Their vision for the U.S. and the world is a Prosperity Gospel theocracy controlled by corporations.

[truthisfreedom]

30. We need to return to a society that heals people.

Profit and Pharma don’t mix.

[area51]

31. No other country would put up with this madness!

[Fortinbras Armstrong]

32. In 1970, Milton Friedman wrote an op-ed for the New York Times

In which he is reputed to have said, "There is one and only one social responsibility of business — to increase its profits".

Actually, that is just part of what he wrote, the full quote is "There is one and only one social responsibility of business — to use it resources and engage in activities designed to increase its profits so long as it stays within the rules of the game, which is to say, engages in open and free competition without deception or fraud." Now, that is a considerably more nuanced statement. However, the truncated form is what has become the gospel of American business.

[yardwork]

33. That's why government oversight and regulation is essential.

And that's why wealthy Republicans don't want givernment oversight and regulation. They've used their considerable wealth to convince many non-wealthy people to go along with this.

[duforsure]

35. As we've seen before under the kgop

Pharma profits jump , and under W they increased 400% too. Again the opposite of what trump claimed he'd do. How can anyone vote KGOP when they'll do this over and over again , and just like with energy costs, that also skyrocketed upward under the kgop and trump . Health care insurance, health care costs, all tariff products , and many more things driving prices up now.

[Eugene]

39. "I agree with Martin Shkreli..."

Like Pharma Bro, just not quite as greedy.