from the the-enemy-of-my-enemy-is-my-friend,-right? dept.
Martin Shkreli, the former CEO of Turing Pharmaceuticals AG, has launched a list to shame other pharmaceutical companies:
This week, a pharmaceutical trade group stepped up its efforts to distance itself from Martin Shkreli, the disgraced ex-CEO of several drug companies who gained notoriety for an eye-popping drug price increase and an indictment for securities fraud. The trade group even made a television ad to try to bolster its image and make clear that it is different—better—than the likes of Shkreli and his greedy ways.
Is it, though? If you ask Shkreli, it's not. And he's made a website to try to convince you.
On the bare-bones Pharmaskeletons.com, an angry and vengeful Shkreli lists instances of greed, criminal behavior, and other sleaziness of individual members of the pharmaceutical trade group PhRMA. Not all his claims are backed up, explained, or accurate. But the site still offers an embarrassing catalogue of bad deeds, which Shkreli told STAT he would continually update.
Related Stories
In an effort to avoid being held in contempt of court, former pharmaceutical executive and convicted fraudster Martin Shkreli made an eyebrow-raising argument to a federal judge Friday, stating that his company Druglike, which he previously described as a "drug discovery software platform," was not engaged in drug discovery. As such, he argued he is not in violation of his sweeping lifetime ban from the pharmaceutical industry.
Last month, the Federal Trade Commission and seven states urged a federal judge in New York to hold Shkreli in contempt for allegedly failing to cooperate with an investigation into whether he violated the ban. The FTC said Shkreli failed to turn over requested documents related to Druglike and sit for an interview on the matter.
In the filing Friday, Shkreli claims that he responded to the FTC's requests "promptly and in good faith."
Previously:
FTC: Shkreli May Have Violated Lifetime Pharma Ban, Should be Held in Contempt
Martin Shkreli Launches Blockchain-Based Drug Discovery Platform
Shkreli Released From Prison to Halfway House After Serving <5 of 7 Years
Martin Shkreli Accused of Running Business From Prison With a Smuggled Smartphone
Sobbing Martin Shkreli Sentenced to 7 Years in Prison for Defrauding Investors
Martin Shkreli's $5 Million Bail Revoked for Facebook Post Seeking Hillary Clinton's Hair
Martin Shkreli Lists Unreleased Wu-Tang Clan Album on eBay
Martin Shkreli Convicted of Securities Fraud Charges, Optimistic About Sentencing
Martin Shkreli Points Fingers at Other Pharmaceutical Companies
Related:
"Pure and Deadly Greed": Lawmakers Slam Pfizer's 400% Price Hike on COVID Shots
U.S. Hospitals Band Together to Form Civica Rx, a Non-Profit Pharmaceutical Company
FDA Has Named Names of Pharma Companies Blocking Cheaper Generics [Updated]
EpiPen Maker is Facing Shareholder Backlash
Mylan Overcharged U.S. Government on EpiPens
Drug Firm Offers $1 Version of $750 Turing Pharmaceuticals Pill
Infamous ex-pharmaceutical executive Martin Shkreli is yet again in trouble with the Federal Trade Commission, which announced today that the convicted fraudster has failed to cooperate with the commission's investigation into whether he violated his lifetime ban from the pharmaceutical industry by starting a company last year called "Druglike, Inc."
[...]
At the center of the dispute is whether Shkreli's co-founding of Druglike runs afoul of his lifetime ban from the pharmaceutical industry, which was in response to Shkreli's infamous move to raise the price of the cheap, life-saving anti-parasitic drug, Daraprim, from $17.50 a pill to $750 a pill in 2015.
[...]
The FTC also noted in its court filing that Shkreli has so far failed to pay any of the $64.6 million in disgorgement he was ordered to pay alongside his lifetime ban.
Previously:
Martin Shkreli Launches Blockchain-Based Drug Discovery Platform
Martin Shkreli Accused of Running Business From Prison With a Smuggled Smartphone
Sobbing Martin Shkreli Sentenced to 7 Years in Prison for Defrauding Investors
Martin Shkreli's $5 Million Bail Revoked for Facebook Post Seeking Hillary Clinton's Hair
Martin Shkreli Lists Unreleased Wu-Tang Clan Album on eBay
Martin Shkreli Convicted of Securities Fraud Charges, Optimistic About Sentencing
Martin Shkreli Points Fingers at Other Pharmaceutical Companies
Related:
U.S. Hospitals Band Together to Form Civica Rx, a Non-Profit Pharmaceutical Company
FDA Has Named Names of Pharma Companies Blocking Cheaper Generics [Updated]
EpiPen Maker is Facing Shareholder Backlash
Mylan Overcharged U.S. Government on EpiPens
Drug Firm Offers $1 Version of $750 Turing Pharmaceuticals Pill
Martin Shkreli continues to run business from prison, report says
Martin Shkreli reportedly runs his pharmaceutical company from prison on a contraband smartphone. Shkreli continues to run the remains of the drug company that once earned him the title of most hated man in America, according to a story in the Wall Street Journal. He was convicted of securities fraud and conspiracy in 2017. He has served 16 months of a seven-year sentence in federal prison.
Shkreli is reportedly running Phoenixus AG, formerly known as Turing Pharmaceuticals. In 2015, when Shkreli was the CEO, Turing raised the price of the lifesaving drug Daraprim used by AIDS patients from $13.50 a pill to $750 a pill. The price hike sparked a public outcry.
The Journal says that Shkreli anticipates the company will grow more successful while he's in prison. He believes the company, of which he owns 40%, could be worth $3.7 billion by the time he gets out of prison.
On one recent phone call, Shkreli fired Phoenixus CEO Kevin Mulleady, the Journal reported. Shkreli reportedly later changed his mind, agreeing to suspend Mulleady rather than fire him.
Cartoon villain performance art.
Previously: Martin Shkreli Points Fingers at Other Pharmaceutical Companies
Martin Shkreli Convicted of Securities Fraud Charges, Optimistic About Sentencing
Martin Shkreli Lists Unreleased Wu-Tang Clan Album on eBay
Martin Shkreli's $5 Million Bail Revoked for Facebook Post Seeking Hillary Clinton's Hair
Sobbing Martin Shkreli Sentenced to 7 Years in Prison for Defrauding Investors
Related: Drug Firm Offers $1 Version of $750 Turing Pharmaceuticals Pill
Mylan Overcharged U.S. Government on EpiPens
EpiPen Maker is Facing Shareholder Backlash
FDA Has Named Names of Pharma Companies Blocking Cheaper Generics [Updated]
U.S. Hospitals Band Together to Form Civica Rx, a Non-Profit Pharmaceutical Company
Health systems representing around 500 U.S. hospitals have formed a not-for-profit pharmaceutical manufacturer called Civica Rx. The drugs will be cheap, and the CEO will not receive a paycheck:
A drugmaking venture backed by major U.S. hospitals has picked a chief executive officer, hastening the arrival of another threat to generic pharmaceutical manufacturers.
Martin VanTrieste, 58 and a former top executive at biotechnology giant Amgen Inc., will run the organization, a not-for-profit called Civica Rx. Dan Liljenquist, 44 and an Intermountain Healthcare executive, will be chairman. Health systems with a total of about 500 hospitals -- including Intermountain, HCA Healthcare Inc., Mayo Clinic and Catholic Health Initiatives -- will help govern the venture, alongside several philanthropies.
Civica Rx will work to combat drug shortages and skyrocketing prices for some treatments given in hospitals by manufacturing generics or contracting with other firms to make them. Generic drugmakers have faced scrutiny for raising the prices of certain older drugs, particularly when hospitals lack alternatives. The supply chain for such treatments has also been vulnerable to disruptions, leading to persistent shortages.
"Civica Rx will first seek to stabilize the supply of essential generic medications administered in hospitals," the group said in a statement. "The initiative will also result in lower costs and more predictable supplies of essential generic medicines."
The venture, announced by Intermountain in January, said it plans to have its first products ready by as early as next year. It's focused on a group of 14 drugs given in hospitals, but a spokesman for the group declined to identify them. Liljenquist said that the drugs are in categories such as pain relief, antipsychotics, antibiotics and cardiovascular treatments, including drugs that are stocked on so-called crash carts used in emergencies.
Also at NPR, CNBC, The Washington Post, and Forbes.
Related: The Cheerios Theory of Branded Medicine
Mylan Overcharged U.S. Government on EpiPens
Martin Shkreli Points Fingers at Other Pharmaceutical Companies
Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway, and JPMorgan Chase to Offer Their Own Health Care to U.S. Employees
Analysts Question Whether Curing Patients is a Sustainable Business Model
FDA Has Named Names of Pharma Companies Blocking Cheaper Generics [Updated]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 26 2017, @01:42AM
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Thursday January 26 2017, @01:56AM
That's a lot of wasted potential.
Can we organize a Battle Royale between Unethical Lawyers, corrupt government members, and Asshole-Level-Greed Executives?
Producers would make a truckload of cash, but they'd need to settle for Pirate OTA Broadcast, after season 1 decapitates most Broadcasting companies and ISPs...
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Thursday January 26 2017, @02:51AM
That could work. The contests could be to the death and be held in some kind of arena. If the bouts started to get a little stale they could mix it up with ravenous beasts trying to eat the contestants. The Donald could sit in judgement as a tie-breaker in close matches, and dispatch the vanquished with a mighty, "You're FIRED!!!" So people didn't think he was too mean he could wear something symbolic of peace, like a garland made out of olive branches.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 2) by Thexalon on Thursday January 26 2017, @04:13PM
I'd generally approve of your plan, but the Donald should be in the arena as a corrupt government official, not in some box suite as a spectator. I mean, I understand the whole "bread-and-circuses" aspect of the whole activity, but if we can get the corporate bigwigs into the arena, certainly we should be able to get the president and most of Congress in there too.
Instead of the president sitting in judgment, I nominate Steven Seagal to act as referee.
"Think of how stupid the average person is. Then realize half of 'em are stupider than that." - George Carlin
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Thursday January 26 2017, @04:44PM
Interesting. Not Chuck Norris?
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 2) by Thexalon on Thursday January 26 2017, @05:26PM
Chuck Norris isn't impartial enough, due to his very public support of Mike Huckabee and Ted Cruz.
"Think of how stupid the average person is. Then realize half of 'em are stupider than that." - George Carlin
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Thursday January 26 2017, @10:20PM
Hmm, yes, but as an aikido guy Steven Segal would manage only half the THWACK! that Chuck can. It's all about the THWACK!
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 26 2017, @01:46AM
They are all a bunch of fucking assholes.
His mistake was to brag about being an asshole.
It would be nice if he drags them all down with him.
Unfortunately he's got name recognition and they don't.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Ayn Anonymous on Thursday January 26 2017, @04:06AM
Pay for Health Care ?
You Americans are stupid.
Spending all that tax money for weapons and solders instead for free Health Care for everyone.
I'm glad I live in a sane country with free Health Care and almost no money to military.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 26 2017, @04:10AM
I notice the trolls who use this stupid comparison never mention what superior military-free country they come from, which country or organization will protect them next time there's a war, and how much in taxes are taken from them to pay for their "free" healthcare.
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 26 2017, @04:58AM
We're coming for your capital gains, Chuck! Doesn't matter what country we are coming from. We are still coming for you, Chuck! Health care is a universal human right. So we are coming for your capital gains, Chuck! Everyone is entitled to the best care society can provide. So we are coming for your Capital gains, Chuck! If you have capital gains, we are coming for you in the name of people who do not, since people are more important than capital gains, Chuck. Does this make you sad, Chuck? Are you worried? I suggest you tweet your worry to the world, because we are coming for your capital gains, Chuck.
(Score: 3, Informative) by sjames on Thursday January 26 2017, @05:10AM
Just pick a western nation that is not the U.S. and you'll not go wrong.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 26 2017, @02:21PM
Heya!!! Number two (The Netherlands) here...*
Obamacare was modelled after our medical insurance system... which is becoming more expensive by the year for us .... AND we don't have any money left for the military!
* https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/america-first-make-netherlands-second-because-they-requested-it [whitehouse.gov]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 27 2017, @05:54AM
I notice the trolls who use this stupid comparison never mention what superior military-free country they come from
Here, let me help you, since you are obviously impaired when it comes to reasoning. The come from the military-free (relatively) country that is not Fortress America, which has a defense budget that is greater than the combined defense budgets of the REST OF THE FUCKING WORLD! Now, Fuck off, American!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 26 2017, @09:32AM
I bet this was written by yet another American fetishizing European healthcare (as if it was all the same, too) without knowing anything about it.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Thexalon on Thursday January 26 2017, @03:09PM
Yes, the US is insane for spending as much as it does on the military. One of the numbers I particularly find telling is that the US military cannot account for roughly $6.5 trillion that we've given them. In other words, 1/3 of the US national debt was money that was sent to the Pentagon and promptly disappeared with nothing to show for it.
That said, that has little-to-nothing to do with why we don't have a National Health Service or something similar. An NHS would be, by all available measurements, cheaper and better than the current hodgepodge of insurance companies and hospital networks and random doctors' offices and so forth, so we could in fact afford to have both an NHS and a ridiculously overblown military.
The real reason the US doesn't have an NHS is that the most powerful people in the country have figured out how to divide the population up on social issues that don't cost them anything (e.g. racism, homophobia, and abortion) while the various industries bribe the politicians to do their bidding on anything involving dollars and cents. That's why, for example, Medicare Part D involved private insurance companies, why the Affordable Care Act doesn't include an option for using the government as your health insurance company, and why it is illegal in the US to import medication from other countries so that pharmaceutical companies can charge 20 times more for the same pill in the US as they do anywhere else.
"Think of how stupid the average person is. Then realize half of 'em are stupider than that." - George Carlin
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 27 2017, @02:13AM
One of the numbers I particularly find telling is that the US military cannot account for roughly $6.5 trillion that we've given them. In other words, 1/3 of the US national debt was money that was sent to the Pentagon and promptly disappeared with nothing to show for it.
You need to look into that much deeper. Your description of the facts does not pass the laugh test. DoD budget is ~0.5 trillion per year. [defense.gov] How could they possibly have last the entire budget for the last 12.5 years?
The answer is they did not. What really happened is that they did not keep track of it in sufficient detail to pass the most scrupulous audit. E.g. they bought a humvee but didn't break out the costs for individual options, like leather seats and a machine-gun mount. But they still accounted for the entire cost of the humvee.
I'm not saying there isn't waste in the Pentagon. I am saying that you are misrepresenting the meaning of the number you are talking about.
(Score: 2) by Nobuddy on Friday January 27 2017, @05:19PM
Don't forget the thousands of M1 tanks the Army did not want because they already had too many in mothball, the DoD did not want for the same reason, but Congress forced them to buy anyway because the bribes were good.
waste does not have to be money that cannot be accounted for, or even overpaying for items.
(Score: 2) by bzipitidoo on Thursday January 26 2017, @05:54PM
No, no that's not how health care works in America. You wait until your health needs are dire, then go to emergency. That's the medical place with all those signs announcing that it is illegal for them to deny you care just because you have an unpaid debt with them. Afterwards, when you are no longer at death's door, if not fully recovered, they send you a bill with fantasy prices in which everything has been inflated at least 20 times. At least. 200 times is common. We're not talking a piddly 100% profit margin, no, we're talking 20,000%. We're talking $300 for a $1.50 bag of saline solution, aka salt water, $20 for a $0.10 aspirin, a "facility fee" of over $1000 just because they had to suffer the presence of your sorry behind in a room, and that's just the hospital. The doctors and labs will each bill you separately.
If you have insurance, the insurer will cut those prices by various amounts in a highly opaque and mysterious manner that amounts to about 75% off. But, strangely, the hospital may offer 85% to 90% off if you are uninsured. If you're inexperienced, you will waste time arguing over these insane bills. Sooner or later, you will understand what your next step is: refuse to pay all of even the discounted amount. Of course then you will be hounded by their debt collectors. So you use the next little piece of this system, the laws that forbid debt collectors from hounding you. You tell them not to call you, and they have to stop calling.
The debt collectors will try to threaten and scare you. They may tell you that they will sue. As I understand it, it's illegal for them to make such threats, especially if they have no intention of following through. Sue or do not sue, don't threaten to sue. They will also threaten to trash your credit rating. Well, guess what? There's another piece of the puzzle on that point. The private companies that maintain credit ratings recently changed their system to lessen the severity of medical debt. If (big if) the only kind of delinquent debt you have is medical, your credit rating will hardly be damaged.
The final piece is the statute of limitations. Many offenses drop off a person's record after 7 years, and unpaid debt is one of those. It's a little tricky though. There are ways to "restart" the clock, and debt collectors try to trick you into doing something that counts as restarting the clock.
Some other things you can do is stuff like timing your medical care. If it's the end of the year and you can hold off until the new year, do so. Want to load as much medical care as possible into the same year, to meet those deductibles. It's stupid that the system works that way, but there it is.
Very cynical. The whole system is a (sick pun intended) sick joke.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Azuma Hazuki on Thursday January 26 2017, @05:17AM
What was this about, were you just trying to make sure everyone knew you'd have company in hell? Maybe you assholes can save a little money on a group discount ticket or something.
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 2) by q.kontinuum on Thursday January 26 2017, @08:49AM
Actually, I think he fancies himself the misunderstood good guy. For example this [newsmax.com] stunt (he puts his face for auction, winner can punch him once, proceeds are donated to support the cancer-stricken son of his deceased former friend) looks quite amicable, if one overlooks the fact that he could probably have afforded to help that boy directly, and that there is no further coverage on the outcome to be found (so the auctioned punch probably never took place). Also, his charity, non profit foundation [shkrelifoundation.org] makes him nearly as likeable as e.g. Bill Gates (no, I do not like Bill Gates).
I don't think he wants company in hell. He probably genuinely thought the price-increase was justified, because, hey, it's pharmacy, it's meant to be about ripping people off.
Anyway, I think the website is a good idea, although his motivation is probably based on bigotry. Anything that achieves some public awareness for this swamp is good.
Registered IRC nick on chat.soylentnews.org: qkontinuum
(Score: -1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 26 2017, @12:28PM
You do like to open your big mouth about things and people you know nothing about.
You'd be quite lucky if he even gave a shit what you think.
Your comment is offensive and hateful based on things you heard on TV. You have no mind of your own.
You are only a shill and I see only "hate-based" comments from people like you.
Martin Shkreli's YouTube Channel [youtube.com]
A message to the pharmaceutical lobbying group PhRMA [by Martin Shkreli] [youtube.com]
(Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Thursday January 26 2017, @05:34PM
I'm gonna have to stop wearing my Irony-o-meter when I visit this place. That one took out a few fuses. If you wanna go to hell along with them, you go right ahead, sunny Jim.
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 26 2017, @07:38PM
From Shkreli:
Jazz
This is a really smart shareholder-focused company. But if you are looking for the vanguard of R&D, keep looking.
Jazz is another "Dublin" headquartered company.
Jazz Pharmaceuticals bought out another company that pushed the only effective treatment for narcolepsy through trials. They proceeded to raise the price 40% every year because their patent gives them a limitless right to profit. Last I checked, it cost $10,000 USD per month. I depend on this stuff to attain restorative sleep; the alternative medicines are all stimulants that don't work in the long term (tolerance develops). Since my previous insurance carrier dropped out of the affordable care act marketplace, I have a new carrier, and this medicine is currently stuck in the prior authorization process. I hope it goes through... I had to file a complaint with the state insurance commissioner before United Healthcare would cover this drug, and the process took months -- some of the worst months of my life, as I was not functioning well without the medicine.
By "smart shareholder-focused company" read "very good at extracting lots of money from insurance companies with little investment in R&D / etc." by which read "run by greedy bastards"
And, because the medicine is quite heavily regulated, the FDA is reluctant to let other manufacturers produce it, even after Jazz's patent expires. Lovely.