Schoolchildren rub the financier's nose in it. They recreated a life-saving drug
Daraprim has been on the market for 62 years. It is primarily used to treat toxoplasmosis by people whoóThey have a weakened immune system – headóAIDS patients and cancer patients after chemotherapy. Last year, the rights to the brand and the drug were bought by the company of Martin Shkrelie, a pharmaceutical financier whoóry underneathóthe price in the U.S. from $13.5 to $750. for a tablet.
The actions of the financier were widely reported not only in the U.S. but also around the world. The media and politicians poured scorn on him, calling him „morally bankrupt sociopath”, or „a monster from a dumpster”. Even the current American president-elect Donald Trump has named it „a spoiled brat”.
Patent rights to the głóThe pyrimethamine component of Daraprim has long been extinct. And it was this component that a group of 17-year-olds managed to replicateóin Australia. The students wanted to face a really challenging task and they succeeded. The price of Daraprim equivalent from a lab in Australia will be about $2. W porównaniu with $750 per pill from financier's company is nothing.
Daraprim is on the list of essential medicinesóin the World Health Organization. The drug is used not only by people with AIDS or after chemotherapy. This antiparasitic drug is also used to fight malaria and by pregnant women.
Students in Sydney recreated the drug in an after-school chemistry class. It took them 12 months to develop a replacement for Daraprim.