#turing pharmaceuticals

[smolcinnamonchipmunk]

It's never to late to change and better yourself. Fuck my dad's 70 and he's finally starting to open up more about me being gay ( pan grey ase-aro AFAB ) He still says and fies things that hurt me but he IS trying. He IS geting better. That's how I feel the trio and all the NRC guys can be. If you love/care for someone enough you WANT ti better yourself and be someone YOU think they deserve. Don't get me wrong. To a point that logic can hurt both sides. I've been in a relationship that my partner wanted me to change for him and it was to much. He wanted somthing that I just couldn't and wouldn't do. They won't do a 360 and be a diffrent person. More like. When I hurt someone/talk about hurting for no reason it makes S/O upset... ill try to do better for them. Romance and love is weird to me. Like I said I'm demi ace/aro to. It takes a lot and VERY specific things to make me feel love or lust. But I'm also a hopples Romantic that dreams of a domestic life with someone to love and love back. I know it's a give and take. Grow and rest. You may be perfect for one another but not at the same time. You find someone to grow with and who can do the same. And if yall grow apart its fine. It's just life. ❤️

Sorry this tured into a ramble XD

All good, man. I'm not saying you CAN'T get better and change, I'm just saying it takes time and effort, and the current trio aren't seeming keen to doing that. That's why I put COULD's in there because it's the possibility either way

Hell, maybe they all clean up their act with Jade doing pharmaceutical work since he's so good at potionology, Azul has massive charities to the transition program, and Floyd becomes a great basketball player that's able to keep his focus on the game

With what's currently written though, I can't picture any of these past slim possibility

[milf--adjacent]

"They put him on drugs that destroyed his genius brain" has gotta be the most milquetoast way to describe the nazi-inspired torture Turing and others were put through by the British government in an attempt to 'cure' or curb homosexuality through pharmaceutical means.

homophobes are not allowed to use computers because the inventor of the computer was gay

[techexamineryt]

Martin Shkreli and Turing Pharmaceuticals || #shorts #scandalexposed #Turingpharmaceuticals

Martin Shkreli and Turing Pharmaceuticals || #shorts #scandalexposed #Turingpharmaceuticals ✅ Stay Connected With Us. 🔔 Don’t miss out on inspiring insights—subscribe today to explore the impactful stories and challenges of business minds that are redefining success across the globe! https://www.youtube.com/@ContrarianPerspectives/?sub_confirmation=1 🔗 Support Our Other Channels ✨ Patreon:…

[scentedchildnacho]

Uhm this black woman was quoted graduating from Florida college promising she would do this because white superiority is the worst thing she can think of.....

Uhm I think white conscription has different dog tags then jewish and if Vietnam the fruitive aspects of life....I wouldn't want to feel infected by speed talking skinny asylums the way some of the

Angry people spreading disease go up to men with white superior images and really want to talk to them about it .......like watching Putin really open leg straddle his seat at bill clinton......

Uhm so i just said to the white superior images in my life this is too negative ....

I dont know as a white man he maybe is a criminal and that's what he enjoys in life I don't know ...

Bad people help me connect to my death wish and feelings of elation about allowable surgery and renewal....it would have been okay if a girlish person approached him...that masculine and I couldnt breathe

Anyway Walmart dollar pills and ida b wells about not wanting selfishness.....if the wealth lord feels funded in incremental modest dollars he can stop asylum brutalities if being is still encapsulated....

Uhm I don't really see a black superiority from my experience but I find black men the most irrationally attached to pharmaceutical acceptance then anybody else....I've never seen so many people as black people have mother's or caregivers that have to be public system and so has a birth inherently genetically compromised ..

Uhm i have never wanted to anyone more then black men wanted to do some psychedelics research on freeing them from dietary Marxist pragmatics in religion and truly freeing them to not have to think so much about the marxian implications of spirituality

The day they get to just not care just okay whatever

Its all just so scatalogical......that to me it comes down to there being enough public restrooms with a metal locked door shower so it's just whatever there are many acceptable ways to eliminate disease....

Constant emphasis on where or when people get to eliminate and water is the most abundant resource on earth and population all flows together in some way

So from that standpoint no I think police research does really need to be repressed that's meaningless and dull just no

I mean their in the news about heinous football rapes so Alan turing the turing machine language skills are things I enjoy as a wealth occupation but really anyone no matter diverse background should be able to pick up a shift or job somewhere where they are or need to....

Well police want to control potential and provide data analysis that controls and promises a lot of persistent positive granting so universal pay check....if you had been shot in the street just to monitor the potentials of unregulated revolutions and rioting then you to would be angry if you were told your just a victim and didn't lose a 401 k also

[iamnaturalnana]

What’s the Point of Expensive Drugs for a Common Parasite?

by Dr. Robert O. Young, MS, D.SC., PH.D. ND A drug treating a common parasite that attacks people with weakened immune systems increased in cost 5,000% to $750 per pill. At a time of heightened attention to the rising cost of prescription drugs, doctors who treat patients with AIDS and cancer are denouncing the new cost to treat a condition that can be life-threatening. Turing Pharmaceuticals…

[honest-cat]

it’s a little upsetting that there’s an archive of an unfortunate thread of responses I had about Martin fucking Shkreli of all people, because I am not proud of how I responded to everyone in those posts. when I made that post, initially I thought no one would care enough to reply, but they sure did. I should’ve ignored them, responded better, or deleted the post.

that being said... that guy is still a prick. simping for rich bastards is annoying and a bad idea, but also because I now believe patents are evil and so are the pharmaceutical companies that exploit them. Turing Pharmaceuticals and Eli Lilly pulled the same trick on their respective drugs and could do so legally. that’s stomach-churning to learn about

I could go into it more, but those old accounts that I argued with are probably dead, and I am still very embarrassed by my behavior in the past. it’s really cringeworthy. I still don’t know who archived some of those old blog posts from the account I accidentally deleted, but I hope no one tries to use it against me in the future. I’m sorry

[serve-update]

Martin Shkreli Net Worth: The FTC Has Questions Now That He Is Back In Business!

Martin Shkreli is a former hedge fund manager from the United States. On March 17, 1983, he entered the world in Brooklyn, New York. Shkreli is a co-founder and former chief executive of the hedge funds Elea Capital, MSMB Capital Management, and MSMB Healthcare.

Martin Shkreli Net Worth

Net worthless businessman, a convicted felon, and Albanian American Martin Shkreli ran a hedge fund. Martin Shkreli's fortune peaked at $70 million. Martin's legal team claims that the majority of Martin's wealth comes from his ownership in his startup, Turing Pharmaceuticals. Check also Utah Jazz Owner Net Worth. Due to his behavior as CEO of Turing Pharmaceuticals, Shkreli was widely criticized and dubbed the "Pharma Bro" in 2015. In that year, the firm purchased the patent for Darapri, a medicine used to treat HIV. https://twitter.com/Samir_fl/status/1624611148502020097 Daraprim has been widely available and inexpensive for many years before Turing bought it. Before Turing, the cost of a single Daraprim tablet was $13.50. The price of a single pill was raised by Turing from $500 to $750 shortly after he bought the rights to do so. we hope you like this Bill Maher Net Worth. Two counts of securities fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit securities fraud were brought against Shkreli in federal court in 2017. He was arrested and subsequently found guilty. In reality, his dealings with Daraprim had nothing to do with the claims against him. He received a seven-year prison term in March 2018. At this point in his criminal prosecution, the judge has ordered him to lose $2.36 million in assets, including a Picasso painting and an unreleased Wu-Tang Clan record, as well as $5 million from his ETrade account. It has been alleged that after paying for his legal defense, Martin had nothing left. Martin was forced to refund the $64.6 million in earnings he made from price-gouging Daraprim and was prohibited from ever working in the pharmaceutical industry in January 2022.

The FTC Has Questions Now That He Is Back In Business.

Martin Shkreli has been back on regulators' bad side for less than a year after his release from prison.

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) said on Friday that it had asked a federal judge to hold Shkreli in contempt "for failing to provide the agency with the information needed to determine whether he is violating a previous order by the judge that banned him from working in the pharmaceutical industry for life" (Jan. 20). must read about Jason Tatum's Age. After becoming the face of corporate greed after his company increased the cost of a lifesaving treatment by more than 5,000% in 2016, the "pharma bro" declared in July that he was developing a "Web3 drug discovery platform." The FTC has allegedly been following Shkreli for months to determine whether or not his tech company has intruded too deeply into the pharmaceutical industry. Unfortunately, he refuses to have a conversation with them. According to Holly Vedova, director of the FTC's Bureau of Competition, "Martin Shkreli's failure to comply with the court's order reveals an obvious disrespect for the law." To undertake a thorough investigation into any allegations of wrongdoing, the FTC "will not hesitate to utilize the full sweep of its authorities." Check also Post Malone Age. Attorney for Shkreli Brianne Murphy stated, "there is a misunderstanding with the FTC," and clarified that Druglike is a software company and not a pharmaceutical one. https://youtu.be/2PCb9mnrU1g

What The FTC Wants From Shkreli.

The Federal Trade Commission is aiming to: Within 10 days of the court's judgment, a comprehensive Compliance Report that includes all supporting documents. Within 14 days after the court's judgment, they will be given access to all the records requested in their letter from October 2022. Within 21 days following the court's judgment, an in-person interview with Shkreli. Read the full article

[arun-pratap-singh]

Martin Shkreli faces FTC contempt demand in drug case

Martin Shkreli, former chief executive officer of Turing Pharmaceuticals AG, center, pauses while speak to members of the media with his attorney Benjamin Brafman, right, outside federal court in the Brooklyn borough of New York, U.S., on Friday, Aug. 4, 2017. Peter Foley | Bloomberg | Getty Images The Federal Trade Commission on Friday asked that notorious “pharma bro” Martin Shkreli be held in…

[gamegill]

FTC seeks contempt order for Martin Shkreli over drug firm

Martin Shkreli, former chief executive officer of Turing Pharmaceuticals AG, center, pauses while speak to members of the media with his attorney Benjamin Brafman, right, outside federal court in the Brooklyn borough of New York, U.S., on Friday, Aug. 4, 2017. Peter Foley | Bloomberg | Getty Images The Federal Trade Commission on Friday asked a judge to hold notorious “pharma bro” Martin Shkreli…

[techexamineryt]

Martin Shkreli and Turing Pharmaceuticals || #shorts #scandalexposed #Turingpharmaceuticals

Martin Shkreli and Turing Pharmaceuticals || #shorts #scandalexposed #Turingpharmaceuticals https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-SsTvxKnvoQ Martin Shkreli and Turing Pharmaceuticals || #shorts #scandalexposed #Turingpharmaceuticals ✅ Stay Connected With Us. 🔔 Don’t miss out on inspiring insights—subscribe today to explore the impactful stories and challenges of business minds that are redefining success across the globe! https://www.youtube.com/@ContrarianPerspectives/?sub_confirmation=1 🔗 Support Our Other Channels ✨ Patreon: https://ift.tt/lv6aYT3 ☕ Buy us a coffee: https://ift.tt/vZHi2rh 📩 For Business Inquiries: contrarianperspectives@gmail.com ============================= 🎬 WATCH OUR OTHER VIDEOS: 👉 How Gerald Levin's Gamble Destroyed AOL And Time Warner https://youtu.be/hlRnrmZQ1wA 👉 J.P. Morgan: Was He Wall Street's Biggest Villain Or A Financial Genius? https://youtu.be/QfXdeV_DoC8 👉 How Bob Nardelli Almost Ruined The Home Depot: The Real Story https://youtu.be/iPZN5prdlHU 👉 Did Stephen Elop Really Destroy Nokia? The Truth Behind The Fall https://youtu.be/fN7d_pHwx9A 👉 The Man Who Created America’s Money Problem: Alan Greenspan’s Legacy https://youtu.be/PHLyBPsQGCs ============================= ✅ About Contrarian Perspectives. Welcome to Contrarian Perspectives! We're passionate about uncovering the most captivating stories of businessmen and women who have shaped or are shaping the world around us today. From innovative entrepreneurs to influential leaders, we delve into their journeys, the challenges they've faced, and the impact they’re making. Our mission is to enlighten, inspire, and inform our audience by offering fresh insights and perspectives that spark curiosity and motivate change. We believe that every story has the power to teach us something new, and we’re here to share those lessons with you. Join us & explore the minds redefining success. For Collaboration and Business inquiries, please use the contact information below: 📩 Email: contrarianperspectives@gmail.com 🔔 Stay informed and inspired—subscribe now and uncover the untold stories, challenges, & the impact of the world’s influential business minds shaping our world! https://www.youtube.com/@ContrarianPerspectives/?sub_confirmation=1 ================================= ADD TAGS ⚠️ DISCLAIMER: We do not accept any liability for any loss or damage incurred from you acting or not acting as a result of watching any of our publications. You acknowledge that you use the information we provide at your own risk. Do your research. Copyright Notice: This video and our YouTube channel contain dialogue, music, and images that are the property of Contrarian Perspectives. You are authorized to share the video link and channel and embed this video in your website or others as long as a link back to our YouTube channel is provided. © Contrarian Perspectives via Contrarian Perspectives https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8j1vtxBoUVRmJ-G2at4-bA September 12, 2024 at 01:00AM

[meret118]

While relatively few people need to use Daraprim, there remains no generic alternative to the drug for low-income patients. 

-------

I smiled all day after hearing he was going to prison for 7 years.

[dr-archeville]

A federal jury in Brooklyn, N.Y., has convicted former pharmaceutical executive and "pharma-bro" Martin Shkreli of securities fraud.

He was found guilty Friday on three counts — two counts of securities fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit securities fraud — out of a total of eight counts.  Shkreli is best known for increasing the price of a life-saving drug for AIDS patients by 5,000 percent, from $13.50 to $750 per pill, when he was head of Turing Pharmaceuticals.

Shkreli has not yet been sentenced.

As NPR's Laurel Wamsley has written about the case:

"Before he made headlines as the CEO of Turing Pharmaceuticals, Shkreli founded a pharmaceutical company, Retrophin, and a pair of hedge funds, MSMB Capital Management and MSMB Healthcare.  Prosecutors say he committed a series of frauds while managing the funds between October 2009 and March 2014.

"The SEC's complaint alleges 'widespread fraudulent conduct' by Shkreli — a series of misrepresentations and omissions, and of taking money from one fund to cover claims against the other.  According to the complaint, he also issued stock and made cash payments from Retrophin (disguised as payments for consulting services) to disgruntled investors in the hedge funds who were threatening to sue.

"Prosecutors say Shkreli misled investors about the size and performance of MSMB Capital Management, claiming that its returns were '+35.77% since inception' — when the fund had actually lost 18 percent.  In another instance, he claimed the fund had $35 million in assets, when in fact it had less than $1,000 in assets."

From Pharma-Bro to Felon-Bro.

[transmechanicus]

If you’re going to blend fantasy or magical elements with the modern day, I’m holding you to a high level of integration between said magic and modern technology.

Modern pharmaceuticals that use hexed molecules to create physically impossible drugs

Electronics that incorporate enchanted metals to accomplish extra impressive tasks

A textile and fashion industry that incorporates fabrics, threads, and materials drawn from supernatural sources

Transit and healthcare systems that accommodate both magical and technological means of transport, sickness, and treatment

Is it seen as primitive or backwards to have preference for either magic or technology? Has one been pronounced superior to the other? In what circumstances does each excel?

Has technology truly progressed as far as it has in modern day, or has it only come to the level of somewhere in the 20th century and filled in the technological gap with sorcery? Are computers just as advanced as today, or has the transistor been circumvented by runes carved into the cylinders of Turing Machines? Have we reached beyond our world with rockets and determination, or alchemical potion fuel and space craft half crewed by creatures from the beyond?

If you’re going to have magic blended into a modern setting, PLEASE show me what it’s actually being used for.

[mostlysignssomeportents]

Martin Shkreli's appeal denied

Martin Shkreli, trollish ex-CEO of Turing Pharmaceuticals, who became infamous in 2015 when he jacked up the price of an HIV medication 5,000%, received some unpleasant news today, reports CNBC. The Supreme Court rejected his request for an appeal of his securities fraud conviction. That means he's going to have to serve the rest of his 7-year sentence and forfeit his $6.4 million fine.

While his fraud case was pending, Shkreli won the hearts of Trumpsters when he put a bounty on a strand of hair from Hillary Clinton's head. His tweet did not get his desired result, though. Instead, the judge revoked his bail and locked him behind bars for the remainder of the trial.

https://boingboing.net/2019/11/18/martin-shkrelis-appeal-denie.html

[pinelife3]

Ask about me. I wish you would.

Disclaimer: I don’t know shit about shit - but I’m trying.

Feel like my blogging this year (I know we’re not very far in) has been really sub-optimal. Typically I feel like my blogs are best when I get fired up about/really interested in something - they come easier and (hopefully) are funnier and more interesting. I have been interested in lots of stuff, but I feel a lot of what I’ve read has already been well positioned and there hasn’t really been much room for me to butt my nose in and comment. Anyway, I wanna try to steel man Martin Shkreli. Feeling pretty amped about this actually.

I remember late 2015 sitting in a fish and chip shop (Colin’s Catch <3 - I never got fish and chips there, always burgers) reading some shitty article on Jezebel about Shkreli and even though it was probably not a good example of reporting I found it convincing. In 2015 he (or actually, his company, Turing Pharmaceuticals) increased the price of Daraprim 5500% from $13.50 (US, I presume because they only own the US version of the drug) to $750 per pill. Once upon a time it retailed for just $1 a pill. The way people talk about him he might as well be the devil.

From The Daily Beast:

From Consequence of Sound:

From Dazed:

Hahah - from Wonkette (whatever that is):

The New Yorker:

The New Yorker article opens like this:

On Thursday morning, the most reviled person in America arrived on Capitol Hill for a short but memorable engagement with the most reviled institution in America. The institution was the U.S. Congress, which Americans say they hate—though not quite enough, apparently, to stop reëlecting its members. And the person was Martin Shkreli, a pharmaceutical executive who loves to play the villain, and who can’t decide whether to be amused or outraged when he is treated accordingly. Donald Trump can rightly be called polarizing, but Shkreli cannot: he seems to have precious few fans to balance out his innumerable detractors.

Okay, so I have cherry picked some of the more venomous headlines but I think it’s fair to say he’s unpopular. The mainstream media actively root against him. In December last year everyone was smugly pleased when some high school students made the active ingredient in Daraprim: like because some teenagers can bootleg one component of the drug in a high school chem lab that’s somehow valuable? They didn’t recreate the whole drug, just a key component. And in any case - the whole basis of the outrage was that this was a cheap drug that underwent an unjustified price hike. Has Shkreli ever tried to pretend there was some change of circumstances where they key component of the drug suddenly became expensive to produce? Their position has always been: we jacked up the price because we could. 

Quoth Shkreli:

To me the drug was woefully underpriced. It is not a question of ‘Is this fair?’ or ‘What did you pay for it?’ or ‘When was it invented?’ It should be more expensive in many ways.

And again:

If there was a company that was selling an Aston Martin at the price of a bicycle, and we buy that company and ask to charge Toyota prices, I don’t think that should be a crime.

It cost those high school goons $20 (assuming this is just in ingredients - not equipment, facilities, time, fancy lab coats, etc.) to create 3.7 grams of the active ingredient in Daraprim (which apparently works out to about $2 per pill… again, based purely on their ingredients). 

^^ Cute

Shkreli has always said that profits made from the price jacking allow/ed his then-company Turing Pharmaceuticals (he resigned as CEO in 2015 after being arrested for securities fraud - is there anything this guy can’t do?) to work on research and development for cool new drugs to save lives (or make more money depending on your outlook).

Shkreli has consistently defended the move to raise the price of the drug - in late 2015 there were some vague intimations that he would lower the price, but they later backtracked on this and it was later reported that Turing would instead follow some standard procedures to make it easier for patients to access the drug. According to the NY Times:

Daraprim, which has been on the market since 1953, is the preferred treatment for toxoplasmosis, a parasitic infection that can cause severe brain damage in babies, people with AIDS and others with compromised immune systems.

According to PolitiFact:

There are only about 2,000 U.S. patients who use the drug every year. 

And if you don’t have insurance you can get it for free here. 

Turing have held this position from way back in 2015: 

“A drug’s list price is not the primary factor in determining patient affordability and access,” Nancy Retzlaff, Turing’s chief commercial officer, said in a statement. “A reduction in Daraprim’s list price would not translate into a benefit to patients.”

The company pledged that no patient needing Daraprim would ever be denied access.

How is this dude still so hated? According to the NYT, the programs Turing is undertaking are standard for high priced drugs (because it’s not like Daraprim is unique in being expensive - 12 months’ worth of cancer treatments can cost upwards of $100,000 - Daraprim is a bargain at the low, low price of just $75,000 for 100 doses):

Such patient assistance programs are standard for companies selling extremely high-priced drugs. They enable the patients to get the drug while pushing most of the costs onto insurance companies and taxpayers. 

I feel like only villains say stuff like “it’s just business” - but, I mean, it really is? If you can make money, why shouldn’t you? One of the all time top posts on /r/depthhub is about how Bill Gates is a bad dude because he’s a ruthless businessman who tried hard to beat his competitors. That’s business, man. Why would you work with or help you competitors? All that’s gonna do is take money out of your pocket:

He viewed any successful non-Microsoft software as a threat, even if that software was for Windows. And if that software was cross-platform he viewed it as an existential threat, since it lessened people’s dependence on Microsoft.

They literally are threats? They’re competing products… how thick do you need to be not to see that? Even if something is made for Windows, if it wasn’t made by Microsoft then Microsoft sees none of the profits. Why would they be interested in that arrangement? And some of the complaints against Microsoft are violently stupid:

Apple had contracted out to a 3rd party company to do the Windows port of QuickTime, so what did MS do? They went to the same company and gave them a ton of money to develop Video For Windows, but an insanely short schedule, knowing full well that the company would essentially have to re-use a lot of the QuickTime For Windows source code to get the project done on time.

When Apple found out (their contract with the other company stated that Apple owned all the QuickTime For Windows source code), they went ballistic and sued Microsoft. Microsoft had been caught red-handed and knew that Apple had them by the balls. So MS settled. Remember when Microsoft “bailed out” Apple in the 90s by buying $150 million in Apple stock? Despite what the tech press reported, that’s not what actually happened. The $150 million in non-voting Apple stock that Microsoft bought was part of their settlement (Apple was no longer on the verge of bankruptcy by that point, and didn’t need to be bailed out). The settlement also had Microsoft agreeing to port MS Office and Internet Explorer to Macintosh.

Really sounds like the third party’s fault to me? The third party company shouldn’t have agreed to an unrealistic timeline and they certainly shouldn’t have resold Apple’s IP. It sounds like all Microsoft did was go to a third party company who had proven success in developing a video player for PC (which is sensible) and asked them to make something for them as well. Anyway: so Bill Gates is cutthroat? So Bill Gates wins? So his throne is built on the bone dust of his foes? It’s just business - why should you make concessions for businesses which can’t cut it or are trying to cut into your share? It’s not charity. And Gates knows charity - he’s donated over $28 billion dollars to improve healthcare and fight poverty, he aims to wipe out Malaria in the next generation.

It’s not even a case of ends justifying the means (like, a mafia boss who funnels the spoils of his crimes into an orphanage or something) - Gates behaved in a way which was industry standard for any big corporation and does so much good - if he let other companies survive and make money (essentially taking away from his own bottom line) is there any guarantee that those $28 billion would have made their way into charity?

Tangentally related to this - Shkreli’s capitalist declaration:

Yeah, I’m a capitalist, I’d love to make an even bigger fortune than I’ve got now. But I’m not gonna do it at the expense of a human life. We sell our drugs for a dollar to the government, but we sell our drugs for $750 a pill to Walmart, to Exxon Mobil, to all these big companies, they pay full price because fuck them, why shouldn’t they? If I take their money to do research for dying kids, I think I’m a hero, let alone evil.

Anyway (I got distracted). In an AMA Shkreli did in late 2015, the top comment is:

Hey! Doctor here and I work in India.

Now medically speaking I haven’t yet heard of why your drug’s worth $749 more than my pyrimethamine. Does it improve on the nausea, vomiting and diarrhoea? Does it have a folate sparing effect? Can it be used in pregnant women and in epileptics?

No one’s been able to tell me what your upgrade is or how it works or even if it is a cost saving upgrade.

Now here is my second problem. If your upgrade reduces the side effects of the drug, why is it much more expensive than prescribing say…. Ondansetron and a Folate infusion to counteract the more common effects. I mean even if I used multiple drugs to achieve this and say bundled pyrimethamine with ondansetron and loperamide and an antacid say pantoprazole and suggested folate level monitoring it would be cheaper.

So what makes Daraprim better than pyrimethamine and what changes and upgrades have you made to the drug to warrant the increase in price?

I find this really frustrating because at no point has Shkreli ever said that he introduced a cool new feature to justify the price increase - this dude (the Indian doctor) is just being smug and facetious but you can’t out-smug Shkreli so what’s even the point? He’s just pandering to a bunch of outraged idiots on Reddit. This dude (the Indian doctor) knows the answer to the question (Q: why? A: because he could) and is just being deliberately obtuse so he can pretend to be some kind of altruistic hero: “Oh you mean you increased the price of the drug just to make money? Unfathomable.” 

Even before Shkreli jacked the prices up, it was still much more expensive than similar products elsewhere. Before he increased the price to $750 a pill, it was sold for $13.50 a pill - in India they sell a generic version for $0.05 a pill (and I guess the Indian doctor above uses a $1 pill). So it was already (I am bad at maths but I think) 27000% more expensive than similar products available in India (does that sound right?).

When similar shit goes down the headline is “A drug company hiked the price of a lifesaving opioid overdose antidote by 500 percent” - when Martin Shkreli does anything they invoke his name in the headline (as though he as an individual were carrying out these actions from his home office) and leave Turing (or whichever other company he’s working with/for) buried in the main body somewhere. In the article linked above, the writer doesn’t actually mention the company’s name (Hospira) until the third paragraph and she doesn’t make any calls to lynch the CEO. She opens with this:

At a time when America needs these drugs most, drug companies are hiking the prices.

It’s called supply and demand, bitch. Jesus. (This person is actually seeking drama and pointless backlash, the sub-heading is: “Where’s the outrage?”) She’s an idiot:

Drug overdoses kill more people than car crashes and gun violence in America, and these overdose antidotes have never been more important. But they’re also quickly becoming more unreachable for the people whose deaths they could avert.

Yeah because junkies would totally be carrying around anti-overdose medicine in their purses were it not for the $142.49 price tag. Fuck I’m also angry because no one writing about this stuff seems to understand what a free market is. She says:

America has long taken a free market approach to pharmaceuticals. Drug companies haggle separately over drug prices with a variety of private insurers across the country. Meanwhile, Medicare, the government health program for those over 65, which is also the nation’s largest buyer of drugs, is actually barred from negotiating drug prices.

In no way does this describe a free market. Sure, it’s more lax than England’s system but it’s still heavily regulated and therefore != free market. This is from a post about Shkreli but still applies:

They’re saying that the price hike is such a good example of how the “free market” is pure evil and “just doesn’t work”… well as per usual, those people just don’t see the big picture and have deeply misunderstood the parts they do see.

First of all, the pharmaceutical industry is not a free market by any stretch of the imagination. A free market would be almost a perfectly contestable market. A perfectly contestable market (aka a “free market”) has three main traits… no barriers to entry, no sunk costs, and universal access to the same technology for new firms as well as existing firms. The pharmaceutical industry is actually a perfect example of the EXACT OPPOSITE of a contestable market.

And all of those barriers to entry, sunk costs, and disparities in the level of technology among firms exist because of the actions of government regulators.

The idiot writer of the Vox article on opiate overdose antidotes concludes:

Unlike EpiPen, though, the naloxone price increases haven’t garnered much attention or outrage, maybe because of the stigma that comes with opioid addiction.

In the face of an out-of-control opioid epidemic, the outrage better come soon.

I am so not buying her point about this not being a scandal because no one cares about opioid addiction. People care. Throughout most of the press on Daraprim/Shkreli people have highlighted the fact that it is used by AIDS sufferers to try to signpost how much of a dick Shkreli is. Is AIDS not at all stigmatised? It was until recently. A couple of decades ago it was headline news when Princess Diana shook the hand of an AIDS patient without gloves.

Really, the hysterical, shitty and reactive reporting on this has probably caused much more drama and stress for patients taking Daraprim than the price hike itself. 

Every other pharma boss in the world has made themselves inaccessible and opaque to the public - Shkreli is surely kind of unique in participating in unfiltered interactions with the public. People are more likely to recognise his name than name of his company/ies or the drug itself. That’s kind of an achievement, right? His email (which he shares openly) is martin@thotpatrol.com. He live streams all the time:

In the video above he’s talking about a website he made called Pharma Skeletons dot com (which is what got me interested in him in the first place) where he basically tears apart the lobbying group PhRMA after they tried to scapegoat Shkreli/distance themselves from him as though he were an aberration in the pharma industry. According to Business Insider:

On Monday, the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, (PhRMA) kicked off a multi-year ad campaign to try and shift the criticism the industry’s been getting on drug pricing onto a more positive topic. In a press briefing, PhRMA president Steve Ubl described the campaign as “Less hoodie, more lab coats,” an apparent jab at Martin Shkreli, who wore a hoodie while he was arrested for securities fraud in December 2015 and on stage at a conference earlier that same month. 

Shkreli was obviously savvy to PhRMA’s dig and didn’t care for it so he put together Pharma Skeletons to outline how member companies of PhRMA have acted similarly to Turing/Shkreli:

Don’t you dare point your finger at me for the pharmaceutical industry’s troubles. It turns out we’ve all made some unpopular moves.  

I’m so into it. This website is really simple - hardly any CSS, no images or videos. Just a list detailing these pharma companies’ indiscretions with links to sources. The tone is really fun as well:

Mallinckrodt / Questcor

Really? Acthar’s 65,000% price increase represents your values but Turing doesn’t?

Gosh, I’m so upset my portfolio companies aren’t a part of your trade group.

I sued & whistleblew this company after they bought the only competitor to their only drug in order to stop my competition from their high price.

Tax avoider? Check. Ireland.

Marathon

Bro. These guys invented price increases. I literally learned it from them.

Ovation. I can sell & start a new company, too.

I feel pretty convinced that what he did was industry standard. But I really don’t want my argument to just be ‘Shkreli’s no worse than the other guys in big pharma so it’s not fair to criticise him’ because I want to believe that he’s better/special/different somehow. He seems weird and funny and interesting. Everyone wants to hit him in the face. He’s the smartest guy in most rooms he’s in. 

Dumb justifications I’m thinking of:

Maybe he’s a bad dude, but at least you’ve heard of him. For a layperson (hi) he must be the most famous person in pharmaceuticals. Not saying notoriety is cool or in any way mitigates shitty behaviour, but I feel like he’s at least copping to it and is cognizant of what he’s doing and how he’s perceived - probably the CEO of every pharma company is as villainous as Shkreli, but they act like they’re not which gives Shkreli some kind of high ground

He doesn’t seem interested in or at all concerned with PR/PC bullshit

Did Shkreli perhaps inadvertently draw mainstream attention to serious issues within the US pharmaceutical/FDA/insurance/whatever else system? Everyone knows about these problems now. I certainly wouldn’t have cared were the articles not accompanied by pictures of a dude with such a punchable face. Possible downside: Shkreli as an individual is reviled, companies still seem to get away with it

All the pharmaceutical big dogs hate him - not because he jacked up the price of an old, cheap drug (they all do that) but because he drew attention to them and made their shitty behaviour more visible

(Do you think Shkreli gets laid more or less since all this went down?)

The faux hysteria over his ‘harassment’ of a Teen Vogue writer (who wrote this anti-Trump article in December which became really popular because who doesn’t go to Teen Vogue for quality journalism?) really pissed me off. He was mocking her by pretending to be obsessed with her because hot girls are lame and assume everyone is in love with them when really everyone hates them. I thought it was pretty funny

^^ Shkreli decorated his Twitter with pics of the journalist and Photoshopped himself into a picture of her and her husband 

Sidebar about that Teen Vogue Trump article (”Trump is Gaslighting America”) in which she argues that umm Trump is gaslighting Americans… which I find annoying because she’s basically taking away half the country’s agency - like, they know not what they do:

Trump took advantage of the things that divide this country, pitting us against one another, while lying his way to the Oval Office. Yes, everything is painfully clear in hindsight, but let’s make sure Trump’s win was the Lasik eye surgery we all so desperately needed.

The article is basically a plea for the truth. She suggests:

Inform yourself what outlets are trustworthy and which aren’t.

Hmmm. Teen Vogue. I want to cyber bully her too. I mean. Hmmm. 

I feel like in my eagerness to be contrary I get myself into these positions where I’m trying to defend the indefensible. I think Shkreli’s more nuanced, interesting and well meaning than the press give him credit for. Professionally, he’s obviously made some reckless choices and remains self-righteous and smug (hard to tell if he’s always smirking or if that’s just his face). The things he’s done which seem greedy and unreasonable are normal in his industry so if he’s no worse than his peers he’s just a normal dude (I don’t really feel convinced by that). Still, I think he seems cool. He’s entertaining anyway.