Shkreli appeared before the U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform to face allegations that he and his former company Turing Pharmaceuticals purposely raised the price of their anti-infective drug Daraprim to take advantage of people who depend on the treatment.
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Shkreli was dismissed less than an hour into the hearing, but not before Chairman Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah. shouted down a request by Shkreli’s attorney to speak.
You will of course remember Shkreli was given the title of ‘most hated man on the internet, ‘ after his company, Turing Pharmaceuticals, raised the price of Daraprim, a drug that treats toxoplasmosis, from $13.50 per pill to $700.
Former drug executive Martin Shkreli smirked and brushed off questions about drug prices then tweeted that lawmakers were imbeciles on Thursday, when he appeared at a United States congressional hearing against his will.
He also laughed at ranking member Elijah Cummings, D-Md., when he told him, “You have a spotlight and you have a platform, you can use that to come clean, to right your wrong, and to become one of the most effective patient advocates in the country”.
“I think it’s extraordinarily unfair that Turing has been singled out for the type of unfair publicity they have received”, said Shkreli’s lawyer Ben Brafman.
More controversy over former drug CEO Martin Shkreli as he testified in front of a Congressional committee today – or didn’t, rather.
Rep. Trey Gowdy, a South Carolina Repulican, tried pointing out that the Fifth Amendment protection applies to cases where someone actually risks incriminating himself or herself.
He adds that Shkreli’s choice of words in the social media post was regrettable, and that his client will no longer provide interviews to the media.
“Hard to accept that these imbeciles represent the people in our government”, the brat businessman tweeted soon after his disastrous appearance. Shkreli replied saying, “I intend to follow the advice of my counsel, not yours”.
Shkreli pleaded the Fifth throughout the hearing.
The Congress hearing took place to examine the price increases in the pharmaceutical industry and Shkreli agreed to give testimony last month on the condition that Congress would grant him immunity. Unless you surround yourself with people who know what they’re doing, you can really get in trouble, and that’s what happened here. The congressman told him, “You can go down as the poster boy for greedy drug company executives, or you can change the system”. Of course you can ignore this if you like, but all I ask is that you reflect on it. No I don’t ask, Mr. Shkreli.
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While Shkreli was tight lipped inside the hearing, he was not silent on his Twitter page.
