“Overnight, the price of a drug used for treating people living with HIV/AIDS jumped from $13.50 a pill to $750.” An argument the Australian online activism platform GetUp! is using to fight the controversial Trans-Pacific Partnership deal Australia is likely to sign with the United States. Medical organizations protested loudly on Sunday after a company owned by controversial former hedge fund manager Martin Shkreli raised the price of the drug Daraprim, which treats a dangerous parasitic infection, by more than 5,500%, The Guardian newspaper reported.
Shkreli, CEO of the startup company, Turing Pharmaceuticals, recently acquired the rights to the drug and defended the price hike as motivated by profit.
“This is exactly the type of shameless price-gouging we could see if Australia signs onto the controversial Trans-Pacific Partnership deal (TPP),” GetUp!, which claims 800,000 members, wrote in a call-out to protest.
“Trade Minister Andrew Robb will risk our access to affordable medicine if he caves in to the demands of the big US pharmaceutical companies to extend their monopolies over medicines.
“Let's call the TPP out for what it really is. It's not really about trade, it's about protecting the interests of Big Business. With the TPP in place, Big Pharma will tighten their grip on medicine prices, by preventing competition from cheaper generic medicines in Australia (so much for "free markets").
“Next week, international delegates will descend upon Atlanta, Georgia to finalise the details of the agreement. By the end of the month, Australia will either be a signatory to the world's largest corporate power grab (or "regional trade deal") – or negotiations will stall again.
“But the more political pressure we can pour on Minister Robb at home now, the less room he'll have to trade away our access to affordable medicine. And that could help the whole deal fall over.”
GetUp! calls on its backers to let their Members of Parliament know that “it's ordinary Australians who rely on medicines, who need protecting – not Big Pharma”.
“Let's give Big Pharma a taste of their own medicine!”
its not an hiv pill
its against parasites, for example toxoplasma. unfortunately, people with aids are much more vulnerable to those parasites, so it is a medication for secondary infections for them. but it does NOT do anything against the hiv/aids itself