Martin Shkreli, a hedge fund investor from New York, has been the subject of global anger and condemnation after it emerged his company dramatically increased the price of a life-saving drug overnight.
Who is he?
Shkreli is the chief executive of Turing Pharmaceuticals of New York, a start-up firm, which bought the rights to a life saving drug used by people who have HIV and weakened immune systems, such as patients undergoing chemotherapy.
Shreli, 32, had a relatively low profile until news broke that he had increased the price of the drug Daraprim.
Why has he attracted so much controversy?
Daraprim is a medicine used to combat toxoplasmosis, a common food-borne illness that can make people with compromised immune systems extremely ill, and even prove deadly. The drug has been on the market for approximately $13.50 per pill, until Turing hiked up the price to $750 on Sunday - increasing the price more than 50 fold.
The Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) and the HIV Medicine Association warned such a price increase was “unjustifiable for the medically vulnerable patient population” in an open letter to Turing after it acquired the drug in August.
His move has been criticised by people across the world and his Wikipedia page has now been locked after it was vandalised. Even Hillary Clinton waded in on the debate, branding the price increase “outrageous” and promising to “lay out a plan to take it on”.
Martin Shkreli karma will be unkind to you for many life times.
; Ruby Rose (@RubyRose) September 22, 2015
I’m so disgusted that this hedge funder raised the price of an AIDS medication by 5000%! http://t.co/1bAgVqjmhD pic.twitter.com/C3JSUwF7pJ
; Perez Hilton (@PerezHilton) September 21, 2015
In a sane world Hedge funder's raising price of HIV drug by 5000% could not be justified as 'good' for shareholders http://t.co/RPWfjrreYN
; Jolyon Rubinstein (@JolyonRubs) September 22, 2015
How has he responded to the backlash?
Badly, at least initially. Shkreli posted a series of unrepentant tweets and in one shared lyrics from Eminem’s "The Way I Am": “And it seems like the media immediately points a finger at me
"So I point one back at em, but not the index or pinkie.”
However, he later gave a series of interviews claiming the price increase was in order for the company to create a better version of the drug. He defended his decision by telling CNBC the higher price was a more “appropriate” one for Daraprim.
He has promised his business model will provide patients with better access to the drug at a lower price and also re-tweeted a number of tweets praising his interviews on Monday.
Shkreli claimed anyone who does not have insurance would have access to the drug for free.
@thetechgirl88 @AmyShanker depends on what your insurance says. if you don't have insurance, you get it for free.
; Martin Shkreli (@MartinShkreli) September 21, 2015
I guess some people think Daraprim access will decline instead of increase. I guarantee better access at lower prices to patients than ever.
; Martin Shkreli (@MartinShkreli) September 21, 2015
Thanks to everyone emailing and messaging me about doing well on the interviews. Glad I can tell my story as we try to improve treatments.
; Martin Shkreli (@MartinShkreli) September 21, 2015
Shkreli said newer versions of the drug needed to be developed and his was the first company “to really focus on this product” for decades, adding that research was extremely expensive.
He told Bloomberg on Monday: “The price that they were pricing it at, $13.50, you only needed less than 100 pills, so at the end of the day the price per course of treatment - to save your life! - was only $1,000.”
