Almost a month after word got out that drug-company CEO Martin Shkreli had jacked up the price of a critical drug by more than 5,000%, a different kind of pharma company has stepped up to provide a cheaper alternative.
Imprimis Pharmaceuticals, a compounding pharmaceutical company, announced Thursday that it is now providing a customizable formulation to compete with Daraprim, a drug used to treat a parasitic infection called toxoplasmosis in people with compromised immune systems.
Shkreli jacked up the cost of Daraprim from $13.50 to $750 a pill seemingly overnight.
Imprimis is charging $99 for a 100-pill bottle of the drug, or $0.99 a pill.
Compounding pharmacies are different from major drug companies, which focus on developing new drugs for the US Food and Drug Administration approval. Even generic manufacturers still have to get FDA approval for the drugs they plan to market.
Instead, compounding pharmacies buy FDA-approved compounds that they can then formulate into pills that can be customized to fit certain conditions.
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