Martin Shkreli Is Big Pharma’s Biggest A**hole

[LiberalArkie]

Hedge fund manager Martin Shkreli is 32 years old but he’s acting half that age on Twitter today after news broke that his company, Turing Pharmaceuticals, had raised the price of the life-saving drug Daraprim from $13.50 to $750 per pill.

Daraprim is used to treat toxoplasmosis, a condition caused by a parasite that exists in nearly a quarter of the U.S. population over age 12, but which can prove deadly for pregnant women and for immunocompromised individuals like AIDS patients. These vulnerable populations will now have to pay over 5,000 percent more for their treatment.

Due to the sudden price hike, Shkreli, whose company only acquired Daraprim last month, has already dethroned the dentist who killed Cecil the Lion as the most-hated man in America. And based on his social media behavior, he has no interest in shaking off that reputation.

In the past two days, Shkreli has quoted Eminem to combat the media backlash, called FierceBiotech editor-in-chief John Carroll a “moron,” retweeted the mere handful of people on Twitter who are not criticizing him, and shamelessly promoted his media blitz. On the topic of the tongue-lashing that he is currently receiving on social media, Shkreli wrote that Twitter “seems to be a great medium for socialist and liberal rage.” He has also called the Daraprim price change “a great thing for society” and waved off concerns that it will place a further debt burden on middle- and low-income patients.



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Also Wikipedia entry: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Shkreli

Martin Shkreli (born April 1, 1983) is a Albanian American[1] hedge fund manager and entrepreneur, specializing in healthcare businesses and is a co-founder of MSMB Capital Management, of Retrophin, Inc. and the founder of Turing Pharmaceuticals AG.

He was a co-founder and the Chief Executive Officer of Retrophin LLC, a biotechnology firm founded in 2011.[2][3][dead link]

In September 2015, he came under fire for his tactics of obtaining patents to life-saving medicines like pyrimethamine (brand name Daraprim) and increasing the prices of the drugs in the US, sometimes by more than 5000%. Pyrimethamine is listed in World Health Organization's List of Essential Medicines, a list of the most important medications needed in a basic health system. Martin Shkreli is accused of manipulating the price and taking these basic drugs out of of reach of millions of needy patients worldwide.[4]

[Mnemosyne]

1. What a disgusting human being, and I use that term loosely. Filthy POS. nt

[KT2000]

2. my guess - he is a sociopath

and a perfect example of the rotten end of capitalism without constraints.
The article says that people will be carrying a large debt but that is not the way it works. People will be denied access to the drug because of the price. No one will do anything - insurance companies will not cover it or co-pays will cover the cost less 5000%, doctors will be reluctant to prescribe it, or people will be driven into Medicaid which may or may not cover it.
When is he going to be through ravaging the pharmaceutical field - it is all up to him.

[LiberalArkie]

3. If a few more do it, then maybe they will allow purchasing drugs from outside the US or

regulate the price like all other countries do.

[Skittles]

4. "a great thing, think it through"

so is saying people with AIDS can just die?

[Overseas]

5. K&R. I can't believe this is legal and hope the industry will be regulated to prevent this.

[napkinz]

6. that smirk

Last edited Tue Sep 22, 2015, 06:41 PM - Edit history (1)

[yardwork]

7. Sociopath.

[napkinz]

8. watch at 5:38 in the interview ...

CNBC Interviewer: Are you going to change the price?

Shkreli: No. (says with a smirk)

[napkinz]

9. kick ... and nominate him for @sshole of the day

http://assholeoftheday.us/