Martin Shkreli remains as unrepentant as everPharmalotDecember 3, 2015In a brief, but illuminating appearance at a health industry gathering on Thursday, the controversial chief executive of Turing Pharmaceuticals rejected fresh criticism that he went back on his promise to lower the price of the life-saving medicine Daraprim.
“Our shareholders expect us to make as much as money as possible,” said a defiant Shkreli, who wore a hooded sweatshirt and sneakers in an auditorium that was otherwise filled with buttoned-down executives, physicians, and investors. “That’s the ugly, dirty truth.”
Shkreli was responding to questions about his recent decision to leave intact the $750-a-tablet list price for Daraprim. Turing bought the drug last summer and quickly jacked up the price from $13.55, a 5,000 percent increase that became a flashpoint in the debate over prescription drug costs…
While it is unlikely that Martin Shkreli will ever be canonized like Jean Genet was by Jean Paul Sartre for his authenticity, Shkreli’s “ugly, dirty truth” that “Our shareholders expect us to make as much as money as possible” is refreshingly honest after the decades of spin. The drug in question, Daraprim, is almost exclusively used in the treatment of the Toxoplasmosis infections seen in immunologic compromised patients, primarily people with AIDS. And to my knowledge, there’s no justification for Shkreli’s breathtaking price hike other than those given above. After a life of crime, Jean Genet was languishing in a French prison when he began to write. He was ultimately liberated from prison for his brilliance by the likes of Jean-Paul Sartre and Pablo Picasso. He went on to become a commanding presence in the literature of 20th century, and he never returned to prison. I find myself thinking that we should afford Martin Shkreli the same opportunity. Lock him up, and see if he can write his way out…
The “shareholders expect” copout traces back to the economist Milton Friedman at U Chicago. He dismissed notions of social responsibility for corporations with that argument. The “ugly, dirty truth” is that hypocritical investors are quite happy to be accomplices once-removed in cahoots with the likes of Shkreli.
Does this Shrekli person in any way fit narcissistic personality disorder?
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/06/business/martin-shkreli-the-bad-boy-of-pharmaceuticals-hits-back.html
He defines it!
Let’s just say he’s narcissistic and hold off on diagnosis, I think. Since we haven’t examined him. Oh, I forgot, under collabo-care, you don’t have to.
(This post was developed and funded by a grant from Carl’s Jr.)
Okay. You win. He defines that [too]…
Now that I think about it, he may be a godsend in that he’s soooooo blatant that it gives us a caricature, something to point at and say, “See!”
I’ll even go split aces here and go narcissistic and psychopathic traits (without formal DSM dx), since he seems to be enjoying this so much.
I agree that he has descended into cartoonish supervilliany. The only missing is pinky in the air, the monocle, and the weird looking cat.
This post was developed and funded by the distribution company for the Austin Powers series.