Last month, In an 11-page letter posted on an American pharmaceutical company’s website, Martin Shkreli called for his temporary release from a Pennsylvania prison to enable him to use his special skills “to assist in research work on Covid-19”.
American health activists have rushed to oppose his application, citing his past history, and have launched a social media campaign to gather signatures for a mass petition to ensure his application for release from prison is not allowed.
Shkreli achieved notoriety after his pharmaceutical company in 2015 acquired the rights to manufacture Daraprim, a drug used in the treatment of malaria and HIV-infected patients – and then immediately limited its availability and mercilessly upped the price by 5,000%.
He is currently serving a seven-year sentence for (an unrelated) securities fraud in a Pennsylvania prison. (See editorial about the significance of that.)
As reported on Washington news site The Hill on 7 April, Shkreli has claimed in the letter/research proposal: “As a successful two-time biopharma entrepreneur, having purchased multiple companies, invented multiple new drug candidates, filed numerous INDs and clinical trial applications, I am one of the few executives experienced in all aspects of drug development from molecule creation and hypothesis generation, to preclinical assessments and clinical trial design, target engagement demonstration, manufacturing/ synthesis and global logistics and deployment of medicines.”
He acquired the rights to Thiola used to treat the rare disease cystinuria, then upped the price from $1.50 to $30 per pill. Patients need to take 10 pills per day
This story is from the May 2020 edition of Noseweek.
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This story is from the May 2020 edition of Noseweek.
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