It's like the age-old debate about generics and patents in the pharamceutical industry but only worse, as a Hedge Fund executive has sparked off controversy by increasing the cost of an AIDS drug by 5,000% after buying rights for it.

Martin Shkreli, the founder and chief executive of Turing Pharmaceuticals, bought the rights for the AIDS drug Daraprim and consequently raised the price of the drug from $13.50 to $750 overnight. This price increase doesn't necessarily fit the generics vs. patents debate either as no change has been made to the drug, yet it seems like changing its price is within the jurisdiction of Shkreli and his comepany.

Dr. Judith Aberg, the chief of the division of infectious diseased at the Icahn School of Medicine in Mount Sinai, pointed this out to the New York Times, "What is it that they are doing differently that has led to this dramatic increase?" She went on to express concern about how because of this hospitals might have to resort to "alternative therapies that may not have the same efficacy."

In an interview with CNBC Shkreli was asked about the controversial decision. Turing pharma claims that the price of the drug has been raised for them to be able to put funds into research to come up with a better version of the drug. The journalist interviewing Shkreli revealed that she just spoke to a doctor who stated that the drug didn't need any improvements.

"That's not true, there is a recent paper that just said that two patients died of Auto Immune Toxoplasmosis," Shkreli said. Adding that many patients die because of this and that this field "depserately needs new ways to treat toxoplasmosis."

Hillary Clinton has drawn more attention to this issue as she tweeted her disapproval of such practices:

Shkreli also argued that other big companies have increased prices by way more than they have done on various drugs and they were small in comparison, when talking about all the criticism they were receiving.

Watch the interview here:

Tags: AIDS