‘Pharma Bro’ Martin Shkreli Still Banned For Life From Pharmaceutical Industry - Forbes

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Topline

Martin Shkreli, the notorious former CEO of Turing Pharmaceuticals and convicted securities fraudster, will still be banned from working in the pharmaceutical industry after a federal appeals court in New York upheld a ban enacted after he was found liable for gouging the price of an AIDS drug.

Key Facts

The ban was enacted by a district court judge in 2022 after Shkreli was found liable in a civil lawsuit brought by the Federal Trade Commission that accused him of raising the price of Daraprim, a drug used to treat toxoplasmosis in AIDS patients, from $17.50 per tablet to $750.

Shkreli appealed the case in April 2022, telling the court he had hoped to work in pharmaceuticals again in order to “continue playing a role in the discovery of cures and treatments for rare and life-threatening diseases.”

Shkreli’s lawyers also argued the ban prevented him from commenting on the industry on social media, violating his freedom of speech, but the appeals court noted statements on social media could be “deemed an action taken to influence or control” pharmaceutical businesses.

According to the decision on Tuesday, the appeals court upheld the ban due to “Shkreli’s pattern of past misconduct, the obvious likelihood of its recurrence, and the life-threatening nature of its results.”

Shkreli’s lawyers have not returned a request for comment from Forbes.

Key Background

Shkreli was sued by the Federal Trade Commission in 2020 for his role in the Daraprim scandal. Seven more U.S. states joined in the FTC’s lawsuit, and District Court Judge Denise Cote found Shkreli liable in January 2022 after a bench trial. In a ruling, Cote wrote that Shkreli was determined to “reap the profits from Daraprim sales for as long as possible” by raising the price by 4,000%, then blocking generic drug competition. The district court found Shkreli’s behavior “egregious, deliberate, repetitive, long-running, and ultimately dangerous.” The district court also called Shkreli’s scheme “far-reaching,” which he accomplished through extensive research, establishing two companies, working through others while in prison and taking advantage of pharmaceutical industry regulations.

Big Number

$64.6 million. That’s the total net profits the district court found Shkreli and his companies made from jacking up the price of Daraprim. Shkreli was ordered to repay that sum to the states that joined the FTC’s lawsuit.