Shkreli sells his stake in KaloBios
Ousted CEO’s shares of pharmaceutical firm valued at $5.9M
Martin Shkreli has liquidated his stake in KaloBios Pharmaceuticals as the company and the controversial drug industry entrepreneur cut ties nine months after he led investors who gained control of the California-based firm.
The New York City-based businessman widely criticized over a drug price hike at an unrelated company sold more than 1.9 million shares of KaloBios stock in private transactions with investors last week, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission disclosure and a company statement Monday.
The stock sold for roughly $3.10 per share, valuing his shares at more than $5.93 million in all, the disclosures showed. Shkreli in November owned more than 2 million KaloBios shares he bought in openmarket transactions for more than $3.26 million, according to an SEC filing at the time.
KaloBios shares closed up 5.4% at $3.69 Monday.
The sale came after a July agreement with KaloBios that limited the price Shkreli could get for the stock, barred him from nominating candidates for the company’s board of directors and prohibited him and personal affiliates from purchasing any of the firm’s stock or assets for two years.
Shkreli could not be reached for comment. Scott Vernick, a lawyer representing him, told The
Wall Street Journal that Shkreli is “moving on and wishes the company the best in the future.”
Cameron Durrant, KaloBios’ chairman and CEO, in a formal statement said the transaction “enhances our flexibility to execute the company’s strategy by removing an impediment to progress.”
The company plans “to swiftly and cost-effectively advance and strengthen our portfolio for neglected and rare diseases, with an interest in pediatric conditions,” he said.
The two sides finalized the deal shortly after KaloBios emerged from bankruptcy reorganization, a proceeding that began in December when Shkreli was charged in an unrelated securities fraud indictment in federal district court in New York. He has pleaded not guilty in that case and is scheduled to go to trial in 2017.
Shkreli led an investor group that took control of KaloBios in November. The company ousted him after federal prosecutors accused him of running a Ponzi-like scheme that targeted investors with hedge funds he previously headed, as well as with Retrophin, a biotechnology company that ousted him in 2011, three years after he founded it.
Separately, Shkreli became a target of national criticism by health care industry professionals and some 2016 presidential candidates for imposing a 5,000% price hike on Daraprim, a Turing Pharmaceuticals drug used to treat AIDS patients and others with weakened immune systems. He served as Turing ’s CEO until the fraud indictment prompted his resignation.
Along with defending the Turing price hike, Shkreli last week blamed health insurers for Mylan’s decision to increase the price of EpiPen by 500% over the last six years.
KaloBios had no involvement in the criminal charges or the Daraprim price hike. However, the company was hit with investor lawsuits that focused in part on the ousted executive. KaloBios also faced de-listing of its stock by the Nasdaq and ultimately sought bankruptcy court protection.