A drug commonly used to treat life-threatening parasitic infections has jumped in price to $750 per tablet, from $13.50, after being acquired by a pharmaceutical startup run by a former hedge-fund manager. The 62-year-old drug, Daraprim, was acquired by Turing Pharmaceuticals this year. Turing's CEO Martin Shkreli defended the price increase in an interview with Bloomberg Monday. “At the end of the day, the price per course of treatment — to save your life — was only $1,000," Shkreli said. Daraprim is still underpriced relative to its peers." He also explained that the company simply needed to make a profit on the drug. Biotech stocks plummeted Monday after Hillary Clinton announced that she would release a plan to combat high prescription-drug costs in response to the Turing incident.
