The drug entrepreneur who caused an uproar after raising the price of an HIV drug by more than 5000 percent has been arrested on securities fraud charges.
Martin Shkreli,CEO of Turing Pharmaceuticals, marked up the price of Daraprim, and a 62-year-frail drug used to treat people with compromised immune systems.
Bloomberg trade reports his arrest in Manhattan this morning is unrelated to drug costs. It stems from a bio-technology firm he founded called Retrophin,Inc."The allegations are essentially that he took funds, both cash and stock from Retrophin, or which is a publicly traded company and used that to pay off unrelated trade debts," said Bloomberg trade reporter Keri Gieger. "So it's a very simple case of taking money from a company that he was running to pay off debts that he owed to somebody else that was not company related and without the permission of the company."Calls to an attorney that has represented Shkreli in the past were not immediately returned to the Associated Press.
Shkreli said the company would cut Daraprim's price last month, however, and Turing reneged on its pledge. Instead,the company is reducing what it charges hospitals for Daraprim by as much as 50 percent. Most patients' co-payments will be capped at $10 or less a month. But insurance companies will be stuck with the bulk of the tab, potentially driving up future treatment and insurance costs.
Turing, and which has offices in modern York and Switzerland,bought the U.
S. rights to sell Daraprim in August, when it had no competition. Daraprim is one of numerous frail drugs with limited competition whose makers contain raised prices sharply.
With reporting from the Associated Press.
Source: wnyc.org