Turing Pharmaceuticals CEO Martin Shkreli caring about the well-being of his company's consumers
Capitalism is a system that allows and often encourages large companies to take advantage of its consumers. Human rights are often disregarded in this competitive marketplace. Some companies will ignore people's rights as declared in the UDHR for the sake of making more capital. This issue becomes alarmingly evident in the case of Martin Shkreli, CEO of Turing Pharmaceuticals hiking up the price of AIDs medication daraprim 5,000% from $13.50 a tablet to $750. This tablet, which costs about $1 to produce, now becomes difficult for the average American to purchase. Shkreli knew he was taking advantage of the fact that this medication is need-based; he could only justify his decision by saying that this price increase was primarily to assist in further AIDs research. Groups such as the HIV Medicine Association and The Infectious Diseases Society of America wrote to Turing Pharmaceuticals: "This cost is unjustifiable for the medically-vulnerable patient population in need of this medication, and unsustainable for the healthcare system". Making this medication unaffordable to a large majority of people who need it is a violation of the UDHR that is being brought up by these groups against Shkreli and his company. Article 25 states: "Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control". By raising the price, Shkreli and his company are completely disregarding this article. This company has the ability to assist in securing everyone the right to their health, but in this capitalist society they place money over ensuring this right. The focus of this company, which is meant to create medicine to improve the quality of life of those affected by AIDs, is much more on profit than on anything on the humanitarian level.
Disparity between capitalism and human rights becomes clearly evident in Shkreli's statements about the increase in price. In an interview discussing his decision to increase this price to such an incredulous percentage, "Shkreli first said that it was 'a great business decision that also benefits all of our stakeholders'". Stakeholders first, patients second; investors first, consumers second. This dangerous idea is one that fills the capitalist society, where companies care more about their investors than the people actually purchasing the product. It becomes especially dangerous when these companies ignore the actual needs of their customers just to make their stakeholders happy, as Shkreli stated. Although he says the money will go to research, what company needs to increase the price of their product 5,000% just to make a 'fair profit'? Furthermore, this is not the first time the Shkreli has tried drastically increasing the price of a pharmaceutical products of his own company: "He was forced out of the last drug company he founded, Retrophin, which specialized in buying the rights to little-known drugs and increasing their prices". What's disturbing is that, in a capitalist society, that it is possible to do this. Shkreli knows exactly what he wants by increasing his medication by 5,000%; the issue was that this time his intentions were exposed by a large number of people on social media.
Discussion Questions
1. Do companies owe their consumers anything; does Shkreli owe the purchasers of his drug anything?
2. How do you prevent companies in a capitalist system from taking advantage of its customers?
3. Is Shkreli justified in this as a business decision; is he right in trying to make as much profit from his company as he can?
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