Sydney students replicate $750 HIV drug for just $20 in response to 'big pharma bro' mark-up

A group of clever Sydney high school students have developed a HIV drug for just $20, in response to the “big pharma bro” who sparked outrage by hiking the price of an essential drug to $750 USD a tablet.

The Sydney Grammar School students replicated an anti-parasitic drug 'Daraprim' to treat malaria and HIV, for about $2 a pill.

The year 11 students' drug development will rival pharmaceutical CEO Martin Shkreli, who inflated the essential medication by 4000 per cent.

The drug named on the World Health Organisation's list of essential medicines is used to treat parasitic infections that most often occur in those with compromised immune systems, due to cancer treatments, HIV infections and also for pregnant women.

It was sold for $18 per tablet before production rights were acquired by Turing Pharmaceuticals and the price was hiked dramatically when Martin Shkreli acquired the marketing rights to the drug in August 2015.

At the time, he told Bloomberg he hiked up the prices because his company "need[ed] to turn a profit on the drug".

In the US, the company is selling the medication for $750USD ($950 AUD) per tablet, an increase of more than 5000 percent.

“We’ve agreed to lower the price on Daraprim to a point that is more affordable and is able to allow the company to make a profit, but a very small profit,” he told ABC News. “We think these changes will be welcomed.”

However, in Australia 50 tablets of a 25mg Daraprim dose will cost about $13 ($18 AUD).

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Sydney Grammar student Austin Zhang, 17, said working on the “real-world problem” of the drug’s highly inflated price made the students “more enthusiastic for the project.”

Shkreli reneged on his pledge to lower the price of the anti-infection drug.

“We’ve agreed to lower the price on Daraprim to a point that is more affordable and is able to allow the company to make a profit, but a very small profit,” he told ABC News September last year.

Instead, Turing has now offered hospitals a discount and the option to buy the medication in smaller bottles of 30 pills for US$22,500 rather than the 100-pill bottle costing US$75,000. The company made no move on its US$750 list price per pill.

The project was done in partnership with University of Sydney, with the drug praised by chemist Dr Alice Williamson, who tested its purity last week, the Sydney Morning Herald reports.

The students worked with chemistry teacher, Dr Malcolm Binns to replicate the drug from the initial compound, leading to the end result.

"The boys had to navigate a difficult step and do this in a different way, and they've managed to do that, and they've managed to do that in their high school laboratory, " he told the Sydney Morning Herald.

Based on Turing’s highly-inflated price, the Sydney students produced about $US110,000 worth of the drug, Dr Williams said.

Student Milan Leonard, 17, told the ABC he and his classmates developed the medicine to combat the “ridiculous” mark-up.

“It was ecstatic, it was bliss, it was euphoric,” he said.