Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Maryland, a member of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, said after releasing Shkreli’s communiques “that many drug companies are lining their pockets at the expense of some of the most vulnerable families in our nation”.
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The embattled biopharmaceutical company sought to portray its price hike as costly only to insurance companies and not consumers, according to documents in a memo released Tuesday by Democratic staff of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.
The memos summarize findings from more than 300,000 pages of new documents obtained from Turing Pharmaceuticals and Valeant Pharmaceuticals, including e-mails to and from company executives, including CEOs Martin Shkreli and J. Michael Pearson; corporate projections and analyses on revenues and profits; communications with angry hospital officials and other health-care providers; and various public relations strategy documents.
Former Turing Pharmaceuticals CEO Martin Shkreli arrives at court in New York, Wednesday, Feb. 3, 2016.
A new lawyer in a securities fraud case against Shkreli told reporters outside New York City court Wednesday that his client would stop speaking to the media until the charges are resolved.
“If we can get HIV/AIDS activists to ‘sit this out, ‘ we come out way ahead”, a consultant told Shkreli in September.
USA lawmakers are anxious to hear from 32-year-old pharmaceutical chief Martin Shkreli about severe hikes for a drug sold by a company that he acquired.
The account was mostly comprised of shares in KaloBios Pharmaceuticals, where Mr. Shkreli was chief executive until he was sacked in December, shortly after his arrest on fraud charges. Since then, he has frequently turned to social media and news outlets to lash out at his accusers.
Following Turing’s purchase of Daraprim, the price for the drug skyrocketed from $13.50 per pill to an unconscionable $750.
During a court hearing on Wednesday, a federal prosecutor said the $45 million E*Trade account Shkreli used to secure his bail in December is now worth only $4 million.
“When we set the price of any one drug, we do it in the overall context of our portfolio of approximately 1,800 products, including more than 200 prescription drugs in the United States, and the need to fund our robust company-wide research and development programs, our expanding USA manufacturing base, and our patient assistance programs”, Valeant said.
“There’s nothing like an indictment to affect shares of stock”, he said.
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