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Health

A Bunch of High Schoolers Recreated Martin Shkreli's Overpriced HIV Drug for $15

A group of 16- and 17-year-old boys was able to recreate Daraprim for just $2 a pill.

A few high school students in Sydney, Australia, managed to synthesize Martin Shkreli's infamous $750 HIV drug for under $20, the .Washington Post reports

As part of a high school science project, 11 students at Sydney Grammar were tasked with trying to recreate Daraprim, the drug that Shkreli's company Turing owns the exclusive rights to in the US. After purchasing the drug in 2015, Turing jacked the price from $18 a pill to $750, sparking public outrage.

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But apparently the life-saving drug is so inexpensive to make that a group of 16- and 17-year-old boys were able to get their hands on all the necessary materials for just $15 and, following a patented recipe, synthesized 3.7 grams of the toxoplasmosis medication. Thanks to Shkreli, that amount of the drug would cost about $100,000 in the US market. Their total cost per pill was just $2.

Shrkeli, of course, wasn't too impressed. He was quick to defend himself on Twitter, telling one user, "lol how is that showing anyone up? almost any drug can be made at small scale for a low price. glad it makes u feel good tho."

Watch: VICE Meets Martin Shkreli

 Photo via Flickr user NTNU, Faculty of Natural Sciences and Technology