Martin Shkreli

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Martin Shkreli, 2016

Martin Shkreli (born March 17, 1983 in Brooklyn , New York City ; also known as "Pharma Bro" on social media) is an American hedge fund manager specializing in drug business. He is co-founder of the “MSMB Capital Management” fund and founder and until December 2015 chairman of “Schweizer Turing Pharmaceuticals AG”, Baar . In November 2015 he acquired the majority of "KaloBios Pharmaceuticals Inc" and became its Chief Executive Officer , but was released on December 20th. He is also a co-founder and former chairman of the "Retrophin LLC" fund.

Shkreli was charged with fraud in a US federal court on December 17, 2015 in connection with his previous employment with "Retrophin LLC" and found guilty in 2017. The sentence was set at 7 years in prison at the beginning of March 2018.

life and career

The Shkrelis family comes from the northern Albanian town of Shkrel, which is located in the municipality of Malësia e Madhe in Shkodra Qark .

Shkreli was born to Albanian - Croatian immigrants in a working-class neighborhood of Brooklyn and began his career on Wall Street at 17 while still studying at Baruch College . According to research by the New York Times , he started his first own hedge fund , Elea Capital, in 2006, but was sentenced two years later in connection with these deals to pay off debts to Lehman Brothers of $ 2.3 million, which he did not did. He then opened his next hedge fund, MSMB . In 2011 he founded Retrophin with the help of investors and with this company bought older, less frequently used drugs in order to sell them as more expensive specialty preparations. The board of directors dismissed Shkreli as chairman in 2014 and accused him of violating his duties towards the company. Shkreli then set up Turing Pharmaceuticals with employees he took with him from Retrophin and raised $ 90 million in venture capital to take over the production of Daraprim for $ 55 million.

Daraprim

In September 2015, he was publicly criticized in the United States for increasing the price of the drug pyrimethamine (brand name: Daraprim ) from USD 13.50 to USD 750 per pill. Daraprim is mainly used for toxoplasmosis , including in patients with immunodeficiency such as AIDS . Although the drug is 62 years old and its patent protection has expired, Shkreli's company Turing Pharmaceuticals currently holds a monopoly as it would take time for other companies to start manufacturing daraprim and develop distribution networks. Shkreli drew numerous criticisms in the press and social networks because of the action and because of his comments in which he justified his action with the rules of the game of capitalism .

He later added to his statements in various interviews that all shareholders would benefit from the price increase, then in another interview he stated that he was trying to build a major, successful drug manufacturer. No company has dealt with the disease toxoplasmosis for 70 years and one can now research a new, better drug with the profits generated from the sale of Daraprim.

Hillary Clinton was also critical, saying she would cap prescription drug prices for the chronically ill at $ 250 a month if she won the election. Biotech papers then fell massively on US stock exchanges. As a result, Shkreli also attracted displeasure in its own industry. The CNNMoney website then called him "the most hated man in America". He did not keep the promise to make the drug cheaper, only the billing mechanisms were changed in November 2015 in such a way that the patient co-payment and the costs for hospitals for the drug are significantly lower, but the health insurance shares are correspondingly higher.

Benznidazole

At the beginning of December 2015 it was announced that Shkreli, as the new CEO of KaloBios Pharmaceuticals Inc for the USA, had acquired the rights to benznidazole , an agent against the parasite - borne Chagas disease , from Savant Neglected Diseases LLC . The majority of shares in KaloBios had been acquired shortly before in November 2015 by a group of investors around Shkreli. The drug is currently not approved in the US, but is freely available from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on an "experimental basis" as it is the standard treatment in South America. Shkreli triggered public criticism with the investment and statements that his price expectations for the drug would correspond to those of hepatitis C drugs , should benznidazole be approved by the regulatory authorities in the United States, which would also give him the exclusive right to sell for at least five years. He would charge between $ 60,000 and $ 100,000 for a typical two month treatment, while the same amount in Latin America costs $ 50 to $ 100.

arrest

Shkreli was arrested by US federal authorities in Manhattan on December 17, 2015, among other charges on suspicion of fraud. According to the New York Times, the arrest was related to a lawsuit alleged that he was self-employed as chairman of Retrophin LLC . He himself rejects all allegations. Shkreli was tried in federal court in Brooklyn, pleaded not guilty, and was subsequently released on bail of $ 5 million.

On December 18, 2015, Shkreli resigned as Chairman of the Board of Directors of Turing Pharmaceuticals AG , and on December 20, he was also dismissed as Chief Executive Officer of KaloBios Pharmaceuticals Inc.

After a journalist saw herself harassed or threatened by Shkreli tweets, Twitter closed his user account in January 2017.

Condemnation

On August 4, 2017, Shkreli was found guilty of fraud. A Brooklyn jury ruled that he lied to investors and misappropriated their funds. Shkreli was initially free on bail until a judge lifted his bail on September 13, 2017. Shkreli had previously promoted a conspiracy theory about the Clinton Foundation in a post on Facebook and publicly offered $ 5,000 if someone could get him a hair with roots from Hillary Clinton while she was on the advertising campaign for her book.

The sentence was set at 7 years in prison by a United States District Court on March 9, 2018 . In addition to a $ 75,000 fine, $ 7.36 million of Shkreli's assets will go to the state to cover the damage from his fraud.

Trivia

Martin Shkreli bought the only copy of the album "Once Upon a Time in Shaolin" by the American band Wu-Tang Clan at an auction in November 2015 for $ 2 million .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Everett Rosenfeld: Martin Shkreli fired by KaloBios Pharmaceuticals. CNBC, December 21, 2015, accessed December 21, 2015 .
  2. ↑ Benet Kleka: Pharma bro 'Shkreli stirs mixed feelings in his ancestral Albanian village. In: reuters.com . July 25, 2017, accessed September 4, 2018 .
  3. ↑ a b c David Crow: A provocateur in the pharma wars . In: Financial Times , September 26, 2015, p. 11
  4. ^ Andrew Pollack, Julie Creswell: Martin Shkreli, the Mercurial Man Behind the Drug Price Increase That Went Viral . The New York Times , September 22, 2015, viewed October 24, 2015.
  5. ^ A b c Michael E. Miller: Pharma bro 'Martin Shkreli and the very American debate over maximizing profit . The Washington Post , September 23, 2015.
  6. ↑ Lukas Schürmann: How this pharmaceutical CEO became the most hated man in the USA . Manager Magazin , September 23, 2015, accessed October 16, 2015
  7. ↑ Exorbitant prices for pills: Competitor undercuts rip-off managers with 1 euro pill . Stern.de , October 24, 2015.
  8. ↑ Martin Gordon: "Senate panel leaders condemn companies for drug price hikes" ( Memento December 22, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Washington Post December 9, 2015
  9. ↑ Amrutha Penumudi: "Shkreli's KaloBios buys Chagas disease drug rights, shares soar" Reuters of December 3, 2015
  10. ^ Andrew Pollack: "Martin Shkreli's Latest Plan to Sharply Raise Drug Price Prompts Outcry" of December 11, 2015
  11. ↑ Julie Creswell, Stephanie Clifford, Andrew Pollack: Martin Shkreli Arrested on Fraud Charges . The New York Times , December 17, 2015, accessed March 10, 2018.
    Pharma bad boy Shkreli arrested on charges of fraud. In: derStandard.at . December 18, 2015, accessed December 18, 2015 .
  12. ↑ Martin Shkreli, reviled pharmaceutical CEO, posts bail after arrest on fraud charges . chicagotribune.com , December 17, 2015, accessed March 10, 2018.
  13. ↑ Carolyn Y. Johnson: Notorious 'pharma bro' Martin Shkreli resigns from Turing Pharmaceuticals . Washington Post , December 18, 2015, accessed March 10, 2018.
  14. ↑ Lilly Dancyger: Despicable 'Pharma Bro' Martin Shkreli's Terrible Deeds: A Timeline . Rolling Stone , January 9, 2017, accessed March 10, 2018.
  15. ↑ Julia Horowitz: Martin Shkreli headed to jail after Clinton threats. In: CNNMoney . September 13, 2017, accessed March 10, 2019 . 'Pharma Bro' Martin Shkreli jailed after offering bounty for Hillary Clinton's hair . The Telegraph, September 14, 2017, accessed March 10, 2018.
  16. ^ Stephanie Clifford: Martin Shkreli Sentenced to 7 Years in Prison for Fraud . The New York Times, March 9, 2018, accessed March 10, 2018.
  17. ↑ Wu Tang Clan Album went to controversial pharmaceutical manager. In: Spiegel Online. December 10, 2015, accessed January 22, 2019 .
personal data
SURNAME Shkreli, Martin
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American hedge fund manager
DATE OF BIRTH March 17, 1983
PLACE OF BIRTH Brooklyn , New York City