Hillary Clinton hosted another Facebook question and answer session Wednesday afternoon, condemning “price gougers,” and calling for the manufacturers of the infection treatment, Daraprim, to drop the cost of the drug to its original price.
“Do the right thing. Lower the cost to its original price,” Clinton wrote to Martin Shkreli, CEO of pharmaceutical company Turing, who came under fire last week for raising the cost of Daraprim– a pill that once sold for as little as $1 a pop– from $13.50 a pill to $750.
Clinton had previously slammed the former hedgefund manager’s price hike, calling it “bad actors making a fortune off people’s misfortune,” but today’s remarks point to a markedly less forgiving stance from the Democratic pack leader, who, until now, had not called for the drug to be returned to its previous price.
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Last week, after facing sharp criticism from across the political spectrum, including PhRMA, the lobbying arm of the pharmaceutical industry who distanced themselves from Turing after the fallout, Shkreli announced the price of Daraprim would be lowered to a yet-unannounced “point that is more affordable.”
During the half hour-long Q and A, Clinton also fielded questions about sexual assaults on college campuses– “It’s not enough to condemn sexual assault- we have to stop it.”– and Republican efforts to defund Planned Parenthood, which she has pledged to defend.
Clinton also took several more lighthearted questions, including where she houses her 1997 Grammy for Best Non-Musical Album (it’s at the Clinton Library in Little Rock, Arkansas), and her granddaughter Charlotte, who she said recently celebrated her first birthday.
On whether she is a “pumpkin spice latte kind of gal,” the former secretary of state responded:
“Ha! The true answer is I used to be until I saw how many calories are in them.”
Reuters
