Despite the pharmaceutical industry’s best efforts to distance itself from Martin Shkreli, the notorious pharmabro is attempting to drag the whole business down with him.
The pharma trade group PhRMA launched a multi-million dollar ad campaign to distance the industry from Shkreli. “Less hoodie, more lab coats,” was the hook of the ad, a dig at Shkreli’s uncouth attire.
Not long after the first ad went public, Shkreli fired back with his own attack, PharmaSkeletons.com, to talk shit about the industry and the people who run it, accusing 26 companies of practices ranging from tax avoidance to price gouging.
Shkreli is currently under indictment for multiple counts of security fraud and probably would make the top 10 list of most-hated people in America. The pharmabro rose to prominence last year when he raised the price of a life saving medication by 5,000% while he was the CEO of Turing Pharmaceuticals. He became a poster child for public perception that the industry’s greediness was costing lives, a which quickly became a PR disaster for pharmaceuticals.
The new website Shkreli created is an attempt to clear his name by claiming other pharma companies are doing the same bad things or worse. The list includes 26 different companies. One of the companies listed, Abbot Laboratories, raised prices on a drug to help combat AIDs by 400%, a move that was not popular at the time and received quite a bit of backlash. He also named Biogen for building their business via huge price hikes. Their latest drug, for example, costs $750,000 for a year-long treatment and $350,000 for each subsequent year.
On his site, Shkreli also gives credit to Ovation Pharmaceuticals for helping teach him the practice of price hiking. He points out that Ovation was sued by the FTC for buying the only two drugs used to treat a congenital heart defect in newborns and then jacking the price up by 1,300%.
Shkreli also called out Stephen Ubl, CEO of the pharmaceutical trade group PhRMA, for calling him the worst of the industry. “Stephen Ubl,” Shkreli wrote, “don’t you dare point your finger at me for the pharmaceutical industry’s troubles. It turns out we’ve all made some unpopular moves.”
“Look in the mirror,” he added. “This website took me half an hour to make.”
