http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-34320413he head of a US pharmaceutical company has defended his company's decision to raise the price of a 62-year-old medication used by Aids patients by over 5,000%.
Turing Pharmaceuticals acquired the rights to Daraprim in August.
CEO Martin Shkreli has said that the company will use the money it makes from sales to research new treatments.
The drug treats toxoplasmosis, a parasitic affliction that affects people with compromised immune systems.
After Turing's acquisition, a dose of Daraprim in the US increased from $13.50 (£8.70) to $750.
The pill costs about $1 to produce, but Mr Shkreli, a former hedge fund manager, said that does not include other costs like marketing and distribution, which have increased dramatically in recent years.
"We needed to turn a profit on this drug," Mr Shkreli told Bloomberg TV. "The companies before us were actually giving it away almost."
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Dr Wendy Armstrong of HIV Medicine Association also disputed the need to develop new treatments for toxoplasmosis.
"This is not an infection where we have been looking for more effective drugs," she told Infectious Disease News.
This is horrible. The drug is over 60 years old. There is no reason for this price to increase. I hope an AIDS patient finds this man and shoots him in a public place. Hedge fund managers and other vulture capitalist will eventually tone down their behavior if multiple ones of them were assassinated publicly. The time for peaceful protesting is past.
