Showdown over steep drug prices
Entrepreneur Martin Shkreli infuriates lawmakers by refusing to answer questions at hearing, then insulting them on Twitter. ‘ This is a scandal, an absolute abuse of power, an abuse of the pharmaceutical industry.’ — Rep. Carolyn Maloney ( D- N. Y.), a m
Infuriating members of Congress, a smirking Martin Shkreli took the Fifth at a Capitol Hill hearing Thursday when asked about his jacking up of drug prices, then promptly went on Twitter and insulted his questioners.
The brash, 32- year- old entrepreneur who has been vilified as the face of pharmaceutical- industry greed was summoned by the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, which is investigating the soaring prices of key medicines.
Four times, he intoned: “On the advice of counsel, I invoke my 5th Amendment privilege against self- incrimination and respectfully decline to answer your question.”
Lawmakers erupted. Rep. Elijah Cummings of Maryland, the top Democrat on the committee, told Shkreli to wipe the smirk off his face.
“I know you are smiling, but I am very serious, sir,” he said. “I truly believe you can become a force of tremendous good. All I ask is that you ref lect on it. No, I don’t ask, I beg that you reflect on it. “
Shkreli, a former hedge fund manager and ex- chief executive of Turing Pharmaceuticals, has been reviled in recent months for buying Daraprim, the only ap-
‘ This is a scandal, an absolute abuse of power, an abuse of the pharmaceutical industry.’
— Rep. Carolyn Maloney ( D- N. Y.), a member of the House committee examining
soaring drug prices
proved drug for a rare and sometimes deadly parasitic infection, and unapologetically raising its price more than 50- fold.
He is out on $ 5- million bail after being arrested in New York in December on securities- fraud charges unrelated to the price increase.
Shkreli was dismissed less than an hour into the hearing. Minutes later, he thumbed his nose at the committee on Twitter. “Hard to accept that these imbeciles represent the people in our government,” he tweeted.
Shkreli’s attorney, Benjamin Brafman, later said: “He meant no disrespect, but in truth, statements made by some of the members of the committee were wrong, unfair and difficult to listen to without responding.”
Nancy Retzlaff — Turing ’s chief commercial officer and the interim CEO of Canada’s largest drugmaker, Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc. — also received a bipartisan lashing from the lawmakers.
The committee chairman, Rep. Jason Chaffetz ( R- Utah), a self- described “conservative guy” who accepts that companies need to make money, said he was disgusted.
And Rep. Carolyn Maloney ( D- N. Y.) said: “This is a scandal, an absolute abuse of power, an abuse of the pharmaceutical industry.”
Internal documents released by the committee show that Valeant and Turing have made a practice of buying and then dramatically raising prices of lowcost drugs given to patients with life- threatening conditions such as heart disease, AIDS and cancer.
The executives insisted that they were committed to ensuring that cost isn’t a deterrent for patients who need the drugs.
Retzlaff said about 3,000 people are treated with Daraprim, and only 25% are covered by commercial insurance.
She added that the drug’s overall effect on the budget of commercial health plans “is very, very small.”