Life-Saving Drug Price Increased by 5,000%

[prisonermonkeys]

Check out this article from USA TODAY:

'It's not funny, Mr. Shkreli': Drug exec pleads 5th

http://usat.ly/1SZXS8w

Im not a violent person at all, but this guy needs a serious 🤬 beating. What a dirtbag.

The thing about guys like Shkreli is that they're both predictable and ironically caught in the paradox of their own ego. Shkreli clearly thinks that he's the smartest guy in the room, and that if you're dumb enough to get ripped off, then you get everything that you deserve. He no doubt fully expects to walk away with his reputation unscathed, and not because of his innocence, but because of his own cleverness. He will see the law as being bound by rules and its own inflexibility, and so is bound to fail because he defies it. Of course, he's not taking into account the way he only cares about making money, the most basic motivation of anyone, and he fails to recognise that people have other motivations. He thinks that if he can make everyone else look like the idiots he assumes them to be, he will ultimately be vindicated.

And he's probably enjoying being one of the most-hated people on the internet, second only to the guy calling for rape to be legalised on private property.

 

[prousonhairy]

The thing about guys like Shkreli is that they're both predictable and ironically caught in the paradox of their own ego. Shkreli clearly thinks that he's the smartest guy in the room, and that if you're dumb enough to get ripped off, then you get everything that you deserve. He no doubt fully expects to walk away with his reputation unscathed, and not because of his innocence, but because of his own cleverness. He will see the law as being bound by rules and its own inflexibility, and so is bound to fail because he defies it. Of course, he's not taking into account the way he only cares about making money, the most basic motivation of anyone, and he fails to recognise that people have other motivations. He thinks that if he can make everyone else look like the idiots he assumes them to be, he will ultimately be vindicated.

And he's probably enjoying being one of the most-hated people on the internet, second only to the guy calling for rape to be legalised on private property.

It makes you wonder how people like that get to be in charge, but if you look around it happens all the time I guess. As much as it makes me angry, it's more frightening then anything, knowing people like that can get a position where they have so much control over something.

 

[Blitz24]

It makes you wonder how people like that get to be in charge, but if you look around it happens all the time I guess. As much as it makes me angry, it's more frightening then anything, knowing people like that can get a position where they have so much control over something.

It's called being a rat-faced weasel in his case. He's the perfect con-man and has no qualms for hurting other people. Too bad he'll never experience the shoe being on the other foot.

 

[Touring Mars]

Playing devil's advocate a touch here, but I watched a recent interview with Shkreli on Vice and he (partially) explains his motivations and behaviour, though I am not completely convinced that he isn't the complete jackass he appears to be. For sure he is narcissistic, supremely cocky and instantly dislikable, as well as a shameless capitalist - but he also believes (or maybe it is simply a ruse) that he is doing good and that his motives (which include advancing R&D and drug development) are misunderstood - yet he is happy to 'play the villian' so long as he achieves what he thinks is best. In his defence, he claims to have addressed the issue of the difficulty in obtaining Daraprim by offering it for free and supplying it in smaller bottles etc., and seems to think the only people losing out are huge corporations and greedy health insurance companies... but, the court of public opinion is easily swayed by his ill-advised behaviour and demeanour, creating for himself an image that makes alot of people very skeptical about his supposed altruistic motives.

 

[Blitz24]

Playing devil's advocate a touch here, but I watched a recent interview with Shkreli on Vice and he (partially) explains his motivations and behaviour, though I am not completely convinced that he isn't the complete jackass he appears to be. For sure he is narcissistic, supremely cocky and instantly dislikable, as well as a shameless capitalist - but he also believes (or maybe it is simply a ruse) that he is doing good and that his motives (which include advancing R&D and drug development) are misunderstood - yet he is happy to 'play the villian' so long as he achieves what he thinks is best. In his defence, he claims to have addressed the issue of the difficulty in obtaining Daraprim by offering it for free and supplying it in smaller bottles etc., and seems to think the only people losing out are huge corporations and greedy health insurance companies... but, the court of public opinion is easily swayed by his ill-advised behaviour and demeanour, creating for himself an image that makes alot of people very skeptical about his supposed altruistic motives.

If there wasn't Obamacare, he'd be right about the latter. Sadly, the new plans for individuals make for lower premiums but until you hit the deductible, you have to pay nearly full price for medication. Offering said drug at same price or even slightly higher ($30) would be fine. Ratcheting it up to $700, on a typical plan, dings both the consumer AND the health insurance company. It's clear that he's just as greedy as the health insurance companies he claims are losing out.

 

[prisonermonkeys]

It makes you wonder how people like that get to be in charge

A complete lack of personal ethics usually helps. Shkreli is the physical manifestation of pure capitalism, where profitability determines right and wrong, and Darwinism, where only the strongest survive.

 

[Touring Mars]

If there wasn't Obamacare, he'd be right about the latter. Sadly, the new plans for individuals make for lower premiums but until you hit the deductible, you have to pay nearly full price for medication. Offering said drug at same price or even slightly higher ($30) would be fine. Ratcheting it up to $700, on a typical plan, dings both the consumer AND the health insurance company. It's clear that he's just as greedy as the health insurance companies he claims are losing out.

It certainly appears clear cut at least on a superficial level, but there's a bit more to it than meets the eye. For a start, the drug is not $750 a pill across the board... the company actually sells 60% of its stock of the drug for £1 a bottle, or $0.01 a pill. Shkreli himself has stated that he will supply the drug for free to anyone who cannot afford it and has even claimed that he has already personally intervened in one person's case (source) - hardly the words and actions of an uncaring sociopath. Turing Pharmaceutical's own website makes the same claim, stating that 'eligible' people may get the drug for free, while those with private insurance will not pay more that $10 for a prescription. Shkreli also points out that there has not been a single case thus far of someone being denied the treatment they need due to the inability to pay, and that, if it were the case that individuals had to pay $750 a pill for Daraprim, he would 'not be able to live with that'.

The central bone of contention appears to be that Shkreli sought out a cheap drug, and bought the exclusive rights to it with the sole purpose of making a fortune for himself. But it is possible that he is using the drug, the insurance system, the law etc. as a means of raising the money necessary to advance the development of orphan drugs, while at the same time making his own pharma company profitable and hence capable of hiring more R&D people.

 

[Blitz24]

It certainly appears clear cut at least on a superficial level, but there's a bit more to it than meets the eye. For a start, the drug is not $750 a pill across the board... the company actually sells 60% of its stock of the drug for £1 a bottle, or $0.01 a pill. Shkreli himself has stated that he will supply the drug for free to anyone who cannot afford it and has even claimed that he has already personally intervened in one person's case (source) - hardly the words and actions of an uncaring sociopath. Turing Pharmaceutical's own website makes the same claim, stating that 'eligible' people may get the drug for free, while those with private insurance will not pay more that $10 for a prescription. Shkreli also points out that there has not been a single case thus far of someone being denied the treatment they need due to the inability to pay, and that, if it were the case that individuals had to pay $750 a pill for Daraprim, he would 'not be able to live with that'.

The central bone of contention appears to be that Shkreli sought out a cheap drug, and bought the exclusive rights to it with the sole purpose of making a fortune for himself. But it is possible that he is using the drug, the insurance system, the law etc. as a means of raising the money necessary to advance the development of orphan drugs, while at the same time making his own pharma company profitable and hence capable of hiring more R&D people.

The drug is not used in a widespread fashion, so my guess is that anyone who would need it would have an exemption from either the manufacturer or the insurance company. Still, it's only for this particular case. One has to wonder if his motives would change if it were another drug. I'm still confused that if nobody is paying full price what exactly is being targeted? The health care companies for offering poor plans, or Obamacare for not being administered efficiently (or if it should even exist)?

 

[Touring Mars]

The drug is not used in a widespread fashion, so my guess is that anyone who would need it would have an exemption from either the manufacturer or the insurance company. Still, it's only for this particular case. One has to wonder if his motives would change if it were another drug. I'm still confused that if nobody is paying full price what exactly is being targeted? The health care companies for offering poor plans, or Obamacare for not being administered efficiently (or if it should even exist)?

It's not the case that 'nobody' is paying full price, just that no individual/patient is likely to - but Shkreli answers the question of who pays in this interview at 24:00 onwards. I've read that some people are apparently facing co-pays of up to $16,000 for a treatment of Daraprim as a result of this price hike, and I don't know what Shkreli has to say about that other than large co-pays are not untypical for this kind of drug. But as far as I know, I don't know if there is any actual cases where this has happened yet, and apparently there are programmes available for those who are unable to pay.

 

[Sanji Himura]

I do want to point out that even if Shkeli does go to prison, it certainly won't stop the ownership group from keeping the price of Daraprim at $750 a pill. If anything, Shkeli is their fall man in this endeavor.

 

[Blitz24]

Should change the title of this to note that we show most disdain to Shkreli. Yesterday he went on a twitter rant that he couldn't get the first copy of Kanye's new album because one of Kanye's friends were chosen over him. There's a tour that will see a ton of negative publicity. The Imbecile and the Idiot, live in person! Which one is which is up to you!

 

[A2K78]

It's called being a rat-faced weasel in his case. He's the perfect con-man and has no qualms for hurting other people. Too bad he'll never experience the shoe being on the other foot.

I'm no fan of the guy, but to blame him rather than the system that enabled him e.g. government meddling in the healthcare industry and regulation by way of patent laws is stupid.

That said until people as a whole get their heads out of the ground in realize that governments intervention is what's causing all of these raising healthcare cost Shkreli will not be the last nor was he the first.

 

[Joey D]

That said until people as a whole get their heads out of the ground in realize that governments intervention is what's causing all of these raising healthcare cost Shkreli will not be the last nor was he the first.

That's not the way to get people to notice though, it's a way for people to get super annoyed and boycott your products. The amount of negative publicity Shkreli got isn't something a company like Pfizer would want.

 

[prisonermonkeys]

Yesterday he went on a twitter rant

A future in politics awaits - Trump-Shkreli '20?

 

[Omnis]

There should be a law where the government gets to control the price of medication and take over medicine producing companies so that crap like this doesn't happen.

That's exactly what we have thanks to the FDA. This wouldn't be an issue otherwise. Shrekli is just playing the game set up by the system we have. Don't hate the player.

I was going to go more in depth but I see that @FoolKiller has covered it. Congratulations, though, all the Shrillex haters have made this guy into another Paris Hilton/Lindsay Lohan.

 

[twitcher]

Supposedly, since he posted bail, there was no federal seizure, and thus The Album is still in his possession.

Do we have a thread for Wu-Tang's single-copy album? It just adds more weird intrigue into this situation.

Weird intrigue to say the least.

I'm going to throw my tinfoil hat on here...and bring me down if I'm waaaaay out there. But come with me for a bit, just for fun.

So, Shkreli pops up in mainstream media when he jacks the price by 5000%. After doing a little reading, I found out this is actually a rather common practice in the pharma industry...he just cranked it up to 11...brought light to the practice.

Shortly after, we hear he is connected to the purchase of the Wu Tang album, which he eventually purchases for an unprecedented $2million.

Ghost Face Killa then talks down on Shkreli on TMZ, which sets off the "Shkreli vs Ghost" beef. Both of them have some light, indirect back and forth through various outlets like TMZ, or NBC, etc. Things take a turn for the weird when Martin posts this video


Then Shkreli appears on the Breakfast Club, the morning show on NY's Power 105.1. The interview reveals there may be a little more to him than meets the eye.


As of now, Ghost has had the last word, with this very strange video he posted, featuring his mother and sister.


Notice what the video ends with???? Wadda ya know, Ghost has CBD oil for sale!!!

What struck me as really odd was the rant that the "sister" (I didn't catch if she was actually ghosts sister, or just a platonic sister...she looks older than the mother) goes on about some $700 cancer pill. Since when did Shkreli have anything to do with a cancer pill? I thought the pill he jacked the price on was for AIDS??

So here's my theory. Shkreli and the Wu may or may not have known each other prior to the $2mil album deal (personally I think he's lying in the breakfast club interview. I think he's really a die hard nut hugging Wu fan). Either way, over the course of making the deal, they make another deal.

Buy shining the light on the pharma industries practices, Martin knows he has trouble headed his way (sure enough he eventually gets investigated and arrested). So, he plays the role of the Villian by doing two things: shining that light on the pharma industry, and challenging Ghost in a way that is quite unheard of in the hip hop world. The end result is that Ghost gets to promote his CBD oil, which itself is an attempt, valid or not, to "stick it to the pharma industry". Ghost comes off looking like the hero...a hero who happens to be able to supply you with CBD oil for this low low price

What does Martin get out of the deal? If he's the nut-hugger fan I think he is, "working" with the Wu is number one, and maybe some form of protection if he ends up going to jail as well (for those who don't realise, Wu Tang is actually a rather large organization, and having been established in NY for 20+ years, it's not a huge stretch to imagine that they have the means to provide someone in jail with some form of protection).

The whole thing just smells fishy.

...tinfoil hat off....

Or Shkreli is just a sociopath with a death wish

 

[lxmmy]

Quite a weird interview with VICE.