Reply to: Have we done Ratboy and the 5000% Aids drug hike

[SueEllen]

Karma's a bitch isn't it.

Martin Shkreli arrested on charges of securities fraud | Daily Mail Online

You've gone all British....

[vetran]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DksSPZTZES0

[MarillionFan]

Karma's a bitch isn't it.

Martin Shkreli arrested on charges of securities fraud | Daily Mail Online

[AtW]

Oh I bet he's really bothered.

He'll feel real pain when his local golf club kicks him out.

[AtW]

Oh I bet he's really bothered.

How is champagne going?

[MarillionFan]

Label cuts ties with hedge fund man who boosted Aids drug price 5,000% | Business | The Guardian

Oh I bet he's really bothered.

[AtW]

Label cuts ties with hedge fund man who boosted Aids drug price 5,000% | Business | The Guardian

[NickFitz]

The company he founded in 2009 sued Shkreli last month for $65 million in damages, claiming the ex-hedge fund manager gave away Retrophin shares to friends and used the biotech firm’s assets to pay off personal debts and keep afloat his sinking investment firm, MSMB Capital Management.

A filing made in November 2014 with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission showed Shkreli pulled in nearly $3 million in gross proceeds as he continued selling company stock while simultaneously urging investors to buy into Retrophin — which the rapper-quoting then-CEO hyped on his Twitter account.

Shkreli began plundering Retrophin after his hedge fund — which eventually collapsed — made a “disastrous” investment in Orexigen, reported FierceBiotech.

MSMB Capital Management lost more than $7 million and went “virtually bankrupt” after the 2011 investment, but Shkreli formed a health care-focused branch of the hedge fund to keep the company afloat rather than telling investors he lost their money.

Shkreli finally told investors he was dissolving the hedge fund to focus on Retrophin — and he offered to redeem their investments in cash or stock in his new company, the website reported.

The lawsuit, however, alleges that Shkreli used a series of “extra-legal maneuvers” to essentially turn Retrophin into his personal bank — and now the company seeks every bit of money he made off the company.

The suit points out that Shkreli was accused in December 2013 of threatening a former MSMB employee and his family on social media and in written letters.

“I hope to see you and your four children homeless and will do whatever I can to assure this,” the former employee Timothy Pierotti, claimed his old boss had written in a letter to his wife.

Pierotti, who reached an out-of-court settlement of a lawsuit filed against him by Retrophin, said Shkreli contacted his children on Facebook and accused their father of betraying him and stealing $3 million from him.

- Price-gouging pharma bro under investigation for corporate looting, fraud and stalking

Seems like a legitimate businessman

[DimPrawn]

As a contractor and staunch capitalist I am not in any position to criticise. If it makes him rich, I can only say kudos.

Have to disagree on this one.

It's pretty close to extortion.

[NibblyPig]

As a contractor and staunch capitalist I am not in any position to criticise. If it makes him rich, I can only say kudos.

[DimPrawn]

Last time I saw bare faced greed like that was......was.....errrmm....when I last negotiated a rate increase with the client.







....but noone suffered or died as a result of it.

[centurian]

US drug company to cut 5,000% price rise after backlash - BBC News

So raise the price by 5000%, get some backlash and then cut the price to a more reasonable 100-500% increase and be called a good guy for doing.

Genius!

Saw a snippet of an interview of him on Sky News this morning. Said he justified the price rise, so he could "invest" in other treatments, thereby helping people. Jeez - the guy was so full of himself.

[SimonMac]

US drug company to cut 5,000% price rise after backlash - BBC News

So raise the price by 5000%, get some backlash and then cut the price to a more reasonable 100-500% increase and be called a good guy for doing.

Genius!

[vetran]

Depends - it will probably cost millions to set up production facilities, distribution networks etc. and from what I understand, not many of these pills are sold per year. Once you've made the investment, the marginal cost is very low, but I suspect the TCO payback period could be quite long.

However, he probably has overcooked it a bit - as it will encourage others to take a risk and enter the market - if only as a PR exercise for one of the big boys to give the impression they are weeding out the bad guys.

precisely, and of course once he stops producing then the competitor can up the price a bit.

[vetran]

If there was any money in a generic version, one would already exist, sadly it looks like there isn't so no one will push for one now

by pushing the price up he has created a market.

Now if a competitor could flood the market and ruin his profits