‘Pharma Bro’ Martin Shkreli is sued by health insurers after raising the price of HIV drugs

Pharma Bro Martin Shkreli is being sued by health insurers by more than $ 100 million after raising the price of the HIV drug Daraprim by 4,100 percent.

The lawsuit, filed in the New York district court on Thursday, accuses the convicted pharmaceutical executive and his companies, Vyera Pharmaceuticals and Phoenixus AG, of ‘scam'[ing] to monopolize the US market ‘.

Shkreli is currently serving an unrelated seven-year prison sentence for a 2017 conviction for lying to investors about the performance of two hedge funds he ran, withdrawing more money from those funds than he had the right to receive and defrauding investors in a pharmaceutical company. Retrophin, hiding his property from some of his actions.

He gained notoriety for the first time by purchasing the rights to Daraprim, a drug used to treat an infection that occurs in some patients with AIDS, malaria and cancer, and increasing the price from $ 13.50 to $ 750 per pill.

Now Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota say it has prevented a generic version of life-saving treatment from reaching the market for years as part of anti-competitive practices.

It is the first time that a private company has acted against Shkreli because of the price increase; he is being sued by the United States government on the matter, reports Insider.

The lawsuit alleges: ‘Publicly, the defendants claimed that they appreciated competition from generics, calling it a’ big deal ‘.

‘But in private, the defendants prevented competitors from conducting generic tests through contractual restrictions that prohibited distributors and other buyers from selling Daraprim to generic companies.

Dr. Craig Samitt, chief executive of Blue Cross of Minnesota, said: ‘Pharmaceutical companies need to be held accountable for their role in ensuring that health care costs are sustainable for everyone.

The lawsuit adds: ‘While incarcerated, defendant Shkreli continued to direct the defendants’ operations, communicating with Vyera executives and the Phoenixus board … through a contraband cell phone and e-mail and telephone services. administered by the Bureau of Prisons.

‘This process challenges the Defendants’ scheme to monopolize the American market for Daraprim – an essential life-saving drug used to treat toxoplasmosis – through a series of anticompetitive approaches that have successfully frustrated generic competition for years and continue to cause supracompetitive prices for this day. ‘

Shkreli was sentenced to lose $ 7.3 million as part of his unrelated prison sentence and is expected to be released from prison in September 2023.

He is also known for attacking critics on social media and offering a reward to anyone who could give him one of Hillary Clinton’s hair.

Shkreli made headlines late last year after a former Bloomberg journalist quit her job and left her husband to stay.

Christie Smythe claims that she fell in love with Shkreli while covering her white collar crimes for work.

The 38-year-old shared details of his romance in Elle in December, after being interrupted by Shkreli who, in a statement, said he “wishes her the best.”

In January, she revealed that the couple had reconciled.

Despite his reputation and crimes, Smythe said he fell in love in the years that followed, after he started covering Shrkreli for work in early 2015, when he broke the news of his arrest for securities fraud.

Smythe quit his job at Bloomberg and started visiting him in prison and defending him on Twitter, until their relationship ‘finally became romantic’ after he was convicted in 2018.

Since then, she says she has frozen her eggs so she can have a family with Shkreli, 37, when he gets out of prison. They never slept together and were only able to hug or kiss briefly in prison.

Smythe hasn’t been able to see him for over a year, but she says she’s ‘happier than ever’ and willing to wait for him – even though he’s not talking to her.

‘I fell into the rabbit hole. I’m happy here. I feel like I have a purpose, ‘she said.

A federal judge last month rejected Shkreli’s second request to be released from prison earlier.

U.S. District Judge Kiyo Matsumoto was skeptical about his claim that mental health problems weakened his immune system and made him more susceptible to contracting the coronavirus.

In a 12-page decision, Matsumoto stated that Shkreli again failed to demonstrate extraordinary and convincing factors that would require a change in the sentence.

Matsumoto, the same judge who tried against Shkreli in May, said the 37-year-old man did not provide evidence to support his claims and that a mental health doctor who evaluated him considered him stable.

Matsumoto also rejected the argument that Shkreli should be released because blocks related to the coronavirus were impeding his ability to communicate with lawyers representing him in a civil suit filed by the Federal Trade Commission.

Matsumoto noted that Shkreli recently had a two-hour Zoom session with his lawyers, as well as several phone calls lasting up to an hour.

Shkreli’s lawyer, Benjamin Brafman, declined to comment.

The low-security prison in Allenwood, Pennsylvania, where Shkreli is being held, saw an increase in coronavirus cases among inmates and officials, with 26 inmates and 14 employees currently testing positive.

Prosecutors said that until January 6, there had been no positive cases at the Shkreli housing unit. In his decision, Matsumoto wrote that Shkreli is a ‘relatively young and healthy man’ and will not be at high risk of serious complications if he contracts the disease.

In his original request for compassionate release, Shkreli asked to be released from prison for three months to put his past ‘as a successful biopharmaceutical entrepreneur twice’ to work on researching a coronavirus treatment ‘under strict supervision’.

Matsumoto rejected this, relaying concerns from probation officials that Shkreli’s claim that he could develop a cure for the coronavirus that ‘has so far eluded the world’s best medical and scientific minds working 24 hours a day’ is’ delusional behavior. self-aggrandizement.