Express Scripts Kills Turing Pharmaceuticals

It looks like the World of Warcraft, guitar playing, guru of the mad small cap biotechs is about to get a comeuppance of sorts.

ESRX has agreed to cover a $1 alternative to Martin Shkleri’s $750 option, or $375. I think he lowered the price by 50% recently, just after exiting from his clown car.

The U.S.’s biggest manager of prescription drug benefits said it will cover a $1-a-capsule alternative to the anti-parasitic treatment Daraprim, which costs $750 a pill after Turing Pharmaceuticals AG raised the drug’s price from $13.50 this year.

Express Scripts Holding Co. said in a statement that it’s partnering with Imprimis Pharmaceuticals Inc., a San Diego-based company specializing in compounded drugs. In October, Imprimis started making a medicine for as little as $1 a capsule that includes the active ingredient in Daraprim, pyrimethamine, together with a vitamin called leucovorin that Daraprim is usually used with.

Turing’s price increase for Daraprim, a decades-old drug that no longer enjoys patent protection, drew outrage from politicians, doctors and health insurers. By having a compounding pharmacy combine the two drugs, Express Scripts doesn’t need to wait for an FDA-approved direct competitor to Daraprim to come to market at a lower cost.

The $750-a-pill price “wasn’t acceptable,” Steve Miller, chief medical officer for Express Scripts, said in an interview Monday. Using a compounded drug is “a simple, elegant solution that gets desperate patients the drugs they need at an affordable price.” Miller said because Daraprim isn’t needed in large quantities, Imprimis should not have a supply problem.

So what does this mean for shares of KBIO today? Nothing at all, since Turing is private. Ultimtely, however, I believe KBIO goes to low single digits and Marty washes away with the sands of time, with his millions to enjoy, whilst entertaining an awkward group of livestream viewers–watching him comb over 10q’s, building balance sheets, floating about the office atop hoverboards.

As for Turing, I believe they will have a very hard time marketing a 60 yr old drug at $375, when a $1 option exists.