Recently, news outlets told the story of a drug called Daraprim, which is used to treat a life-threatening parasitic infection. Turing Pharmaceuticals, a start-up founded by 32-year-old former hedge-fund manage Martin Shkreli, bought the rights to make the pill and immediately raised the price of the drug from $13.50 to $750 per pill.
Obviously, many people won’t be able to pay that price, and some people who do will face financial ruin. When this was pointed out to Mr. Shkreli, he responded in a tweet, “aint my fault.” By this, he probably meant that it’s not his fault that poor people are not wealthy.
This story reminded me of another story in the news a number of years ago. A woman was raped; her rapist was caught. At his trial, the rapist’s defense was that the woman voluntarily chose to have sex with him. He admitted he told the woman that he would kill her unless she had sex with him. The fact that the woman chose to have sex rather than die, the rapist contended, made the sex act a voluntary choice rather than rape. The jury didn’t buy his argument and he was convicted.
Most people will try to pay any price demanded of them if the alternative is death. If people choose to pay an exorbitant price rather than die, that does not mean they are not being victimized.
According to dictionary.com, a profiteer is “a person who seeks or exacts exorbitant profits, especially through the sale of scarce or rationed goods.” Profiteering is illegal. When a hurricane or earthquake strikes, government officials will sometimes warn business owners that profiteers will be prosecuted. Taking advantage of people facing a life-or-death situation is widely considered immoral.
So why do drug companies get to do it?
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