Not exactly true, as in "bullshit". Shkreli is, by far, not the only thief to buy up an old drug and then hike the prices to astonishing levels:
In 2008, Congress held hearings about this practice, focusing for instance on Ovation Pharmaceuticals, which acquired a drug to treat a breathing problem in newborns and raised the price to $1,500 per unit from about $100. There was also Questcor Pharmaceuticals, which spent $100,000 to acquire a decades-old drug for infantile spasms and raise its price from about $40 a vial to over $23,000, with the biggest jump occurring overnight in 2007. Valeant has done this type of thing for several drugs.They are all pirates and criminals. They figure that if people need a drug, they'll pay what it takes and do whatever it takes to get it; a marketing strategy identical to dealers of meth, heroin and crack cocaine.
There once were people involved in the process who genuinely cared about the health of the public and saw it as their mission to develop new medicines to save lives. Most of those folks are long since retired or dead. Now, they're just bespoke-suit-wearing pirates. It wouldn't matter to them what they were selling, as long as they could make an unconscionable amount of money doing it.
They are evil.
As much as we enjoy Shkreli's trouble, we overlook the fact that his arrest was not for his drug price douchery but good old fashioned stock fraud and manipulations with his hedge fund. Or to put it another way.
ReplyDeleteIt is OK to steal from ordinary people. To steal from the rich is a crime.
"There once were people involved in the process who genuinely cared about the health of the public and saw it as their mission to develop new medicines to save lives."
ReplyDeleteJonas Salk comes to mind immediately.
Were I his lawyer, I wouldn't want a jury trial. I would opt for the bench trial and leave him to the mercy of the judge, and hope that the appeal is not heard by Judge Denny Chin on the 2nd Circuit. And yes, there will be an appeal, because (A) The Daraprim price increase fiasco, while not related directly to the stock fraud charges now hanging over Shkreli's head, will, in all likelihood, be introduced as evidence at trial and/or at sentencing to demonstrate Shkreli's total disregard for the well being of the public; and (B)Shkreli has the wherewithal to retain counsel for the appeal.
ReplyDelete