A group of Australian school
children working on a shoestring budget have recreated the HIV drug whose price
was controversially jacked up 5000% by a former hedge fund manager. US company
Turning Pharmaceuticals’ former chief Martin Shkreli became a global figure of
hate after buying the rights to Daraprim and then raising the price in the US
from $13.50 a tablet to $750. Youngsters at a Sydney school decided to draw
attention to the scandal and went to work creating pyrimethamine, the active
ingredient for Daraprim, an anti-parasitic used to treat people with low
immunity, such as those with HIV, chemotherapy patients and pregnant women.
Student James Wood said he and his friends had started off with just $20 of the
drug, and in one reaction had produced thousands of dollars’ worth. University
of Sydney research chemist Alice Williamson helped the boys synthesize the
medicine using an online platform Open source Malaria. The pupils “shared the
outrage of the general public”. Turning Pharmaceuticals continues to sell the
only FDA approved form of the drug in the US, but reportedly cut the price in
half for hospitals after the outcry. Daraprim, which figures on the WHO list of
essential medicines, is cheap in most countries, with 50 tablets selling in
Australia for $10.
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