Following outrage over bumping up the price of a drug 5,000 percent, CEO says he'll lower the cost

After swift backlash from consumers and advocacy groups, the CEO of a pharmaceutical startup that increased the price of a life-saving drug from $13.50 a pill to $750 announced Tuesday the company would lower the cost.

Martin Shkreli of Turing Pharmaceuticals did not divulge the new price, and said it would probably be set sometime over the next few weeks and would allow the company to break even or make a smaller profit. He told NBC News the decision was made due to the outrage the company faced over increasing the cost of Daraprim 5,000 percent overnight. "Yes, it is absolutely a reaction — there were mistakes made with respect to helping people understand why we took this action," he said. "I think that it makes sense to lower the price in response to the anger that was felt by people."

Daraprim is used to treat toxoplasmosis, which infects people with compromised immune systems due to AIDS, pregnancy, and chemotherapy, the CDC said. Turing acquired Daraprim in August, and on Monday said the price was increased because the company needed to "turn a profit on the drug," since research is costly and they want to come up with a newer version of Daraprim.

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