This article is published in partnership with Time.com. The original version can be found here.
By Nolan Feeney @NolanFeeney
A pharmaceuticals company that raised the price of a drug 5,500% practically overnight says it will now lower its price following an intense backlash from the media, medical profession and the general public.
Turing Pharmaceuticals founder Martin Shkreli confirmed the price cut to NBC News on Tuesday but did not say how much the company would reduce the cost of Daraprim.
Early this week, Turing’s decision to raise the price of Daraprim from $13.50 a tablet to $750 was the subject of a New York Times story. The drug, which is generically known as pyrimethamine and was acquired by the company acquired in August, is used to treat a serious parasitic infection called toxoplasmosis, which can be life-threatening for those with compromised immune systems. It’s also been used to treat malaria.
Shkreli said the new price will allow the company to break even or make a “small profit” on the drug.
Medical experts had dismissed Shkreli’s arguments as disingenuous.
“We are not in dire need of new drugs for toxoplasmosis right now,” Dr. David Relman, chief of infectious diseases for the VA Palo Alto Health Care System in California, told Coins2Day earlier this week. “There’s no public health need for such. This is simply about greed.”
Laura Lorenzetti contributed to this report.