By: Tiffany Walker
Martin Shkreli is the former chief executive of Turing Pharmaceuticals; he has been arrested on fraud charges. However, he is more famous for increasing the price of a life saving drug from $13.50 to $750 a pill; in the United States this type of action from a private company is not technically illegal. According the official documents, Shkreli misled investors in his hedge funds and then proceed to use a public company to repair the damages. While Shkreli denies the fraud charges, he has resigned as CEO of Turing Pharmaceuticals, and now another pharmaceutical company is feeling the heat of Martin Shkreli’s bad choices.
KaloBois is a biotech firm that was recently taken over by Mr. Shkreli. The firm has recently filed for bankruptcy protection in Delaware. The company has also been removed from the Nasdaq about two weeks ago.
Martin Shkreli’s actions regarding the hiking up of drug prices has caused discussion over the legality of the pharmaceutical industry. Shkreli is not alone in his mission for bigger profits. Many companies increase prices as high as it can without losing consumers. The Wall Street Journal did an analysis that found that the price for these drugs are not based on manufacturing or research costs. The United States does not control the prices of drugs as other countries do. Unfortunately, this allows drug companies to decide how much Americans should pay for necessary drugs so far as the market agrees.