Federal officials and New York state have sued Martin Shkreli for allegedly violating antitrust law when he raised the price of Daraprim by 4,000%, Bloomberg reports. Shkreli is already in prison on a separate charge.
Why it matters: Shkreli and Vyera Pharmaceuticals, formerly Turing Pharmaceuticals, became the face of out-of-control drug pricing. The lawsuit suggests that such behavior could have been illegal.
Details: The massive Daraprim price hike came in 2015, after Shkreli acquired the drug.
- The Federal Trade Commission and New York say that he also blocked generic competitors through contractual restrictions.
The other side: "Mr. Shkreli looks forward to defeating this baseless and unprecedented attempt by the FTC to sue an individual for monopolizing a market," Benjamin Brafman, Shkreli’s lawyer, said in a statement.
Go deeper: Martin Shkreli runs his company from prison
