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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Rep. Elijah Cummings, a Maryland Democrat, pleaded with Shkreli to reconsider his attitudes toward drug pricing.
Turing’s Nancy Retzlaff defended the Daraprim price rise at the hearing, saying that about 3000 people are treated with Daraprim, and only 25 per cent were covered by commercial insurance. He said that while Shkreli started out as a hedge fund manager, his work related to the development of drugs has given him the reputation as a “giant among the pharmaceutical geniuses”.
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. “Under the House rules, you have not been sworn in”, Chaffetz said, telling him to sit down.
“On the advice of counsel”, said Shkreli, “I invoke my fifth amendment privilege against self-incrimination and respectfully decline to answer your question”.
The controversial former CEO of Turing Pharmaceuticals, who was once called “the most hated man in America”, tweeted at members of Congress inviting them to ask their questions via social media.
After failing to answer even a single question, Shkreli was dismissed less than an hour later. After all, Shkreli isn’t under indictment for rising drug prices, Gowdy pointed out.
Shkreli: I intend to follow the advice of my counsel.
In spite of this behavior on his part, Democrats may be even more embarrassed to find out Shkreli is a big Democrat donor.
Shkreli didn’t budge, and Gowdy gave up: “Mr. Chairman, I’m vexed”.
Gowdy told Shkreli that he’s welcome to wave the Fifth Amendment and answer some questions.
“It’s probably pretty late in the game to expect personality change, but people do sort of have what we call “Come to Jesus moment” where they say, ‘oh my goodness what have I done?'” Plante said.
With the same exact wording, Shkreli also declined to say whether he feels he did anything wrong or if his company did, in fact, put additional profits back into research as he had previously claimed. “I know you are smiling, but I am very serious, sir”. He strums his guitar on YouTube and paid a reported $2 million for the only known copy of an album by the Wu-Tang Clan.
The two companies’ executives insisted they were committed to ensuring that cost isn’t a deterrent for patients who need the drugs.
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“Are you a member of the media?” he asked Duthiers. As the hearing went on, he smirked, rolled his eyes and chuckled.
