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You are here: Home / Economics / Show Us on the Doll Where the Invisible Hand Touched You / Just Die Already

Just Die Already

by John Cole|  December 14, 201510:01 pm| 63 Comments

This post is in: Show Us on the Doll Where the Invisible Hand Touched You, Sociopaths

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I know this is evil and wrong (and I apologize in advance to those of you who have had someone succumb or battle this disease), but I’m gonna go all Sean Penn and hope this guy dies of rectal cancer:

After dropping $2 million on a Wu-Tang Clan album, the pharmaceutical executive Martin Shkreli has found a new project: making an essential treatment unaffordable for poor immigrants from Latin America.

Shkreli, otherwise known as “pharma bro,” gained notoriety earlier this year when his company, Turing Pharmaceuticals, increased the price of a drug used to treat AIDS patients from around $13.50 to $750. He’s now the CEO of KaloBios Pharmaceuticals, which recently announced its plans to submit benznidazole, a treatment for Chagas disease purchased earlier this month, for Food and Drug Administration approval next year. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that about 300,000 people in the United States have the deadly disease. Most of them are immigrants from Latin America, where as many as 8 million people are infected.

The third most common parasite disease in the world, Chagas, also known as the “kissing bug disease,” is transmitted via the painless bites of Triatomine insects. Untreated, it can lead to heart failure and death. Last year, researchers at the Baylor College of Medicine identified Chagas in several patients who hadn’t traveled outside of the country, positing that they may have come into contact with the bugs through camping and hunting. That said, the risk of contracting the parasite in the U.S. remains small; most people who have the disease in the United States already had it when they arrived.

“Chagas is a disease of the poor. It’s not a disease where people have access if prices are high.”

Right now, doctors in the U.S. obtain benznidazole free of charge through the CDC. According to Rachel Cohen, the regional executive director of the Drugs for Neglected Disease Initiative in North America, the drug sells in Latin America for somewhere between $60 and $100 for each course of treatment. Both of these would change the moment the FDA approved benznidazole from any company—and Shkreli, in particular, seems determined to price this drug out of reach of the people who need it. In filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, KaloBios wrote that it expects to price the Chagas drug similarly to antivirals for Hepatitis C, which can cost almost $100,000 for a single course of treatment in the United States.

“You’re talking about a 100,000 percent or 150,000 percent price increase” from the current cost in Latin America, Cohen said.

This is one reason among many why people hate glibertarians and free market fetishists. The irony, of course, is this is anything but the free market with the patent involvement. And you are going to have higher insurance costs because this guy needs his cut.

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Reader Interactions

63Comments

  1. 1.

    beltane

    December 14, 2015 at 10:07 pm

    How can we find a cure for the parasite disease known as Martin Skreli?

  2. 2.

    redshirt

    December 14, 2015 at 10:09 pm

    Only Bill Murray can save us now.

  3. 3.

    Gin & Tonic

    December 14, 2015 at 10:11 pm

    It gets even worse, if you can imagine. By submitting an old drug for FDA review for a “neglected disease” he also gets something called an “accelerated review voucher” which he can re-sell to another drug company. Those vouchers can sell for $300 million. Yes, you heard right.

  4. 4.

    pat

    December 14, 2015 at 10:12 pm

    I don’t get it. I know there are people diagnosed as psychopaths, but this seems beyond the pale even for them.

  5. 5.

    a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)

    December 14, 2015 at 10:13 pm

    I was discussing this asshole with a young biologist yesterday, and told him that while I recognized I was putting negative energy into the universe, I would not be at all unhappy if the dudebro Skreli died a painful and lingering death. Beginning tomorrow.

  6. 6.

    schrodinger's cat

    December 14, 2015 at 10:14 pm

    Lawyers who comment on Balloon Juice, how is this not illegal?

  7. 7.

    redshirt

    December 14, 2015 at 10:14 pm

    Skreli is most likely a Skrull.

  8. 8.

    beltane

    December 14, 2015 at 10:16 pm

    @a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q): Well, if this asshole found himself in need of a bone marrow transplant, I’d be happy to help. But only in exchange for every last asset he owns in addition to his hands and feet, just as a precaution.

  9. 9.

    redheadedfemme

    December 14, 2015 at 10:16 pm

    This may be a dumb question, but if the FDA knows he’s doing this just to jack up the price and screw poor people over, why would they approve his application?

  10. 10.

    SiubhanDuinne

    December 14, 2015 at 10:18 pm

    I think of this guy … then I think of Jimmy Carter and what he has done to combat Guinea Worm and several other diseases that mostly afflict poor people in underdeveloped parts of the world … and there is no question in my mind which one should get the cancer diagnosis.

    Very happily, President Carter recently announced that he is cancer-free. A bit of good news in our often dismal times.

  11. 11.

    beltane

    December 14, 2015 at 10:19 pm

    @schrodinger’s cat:It seems that he is exploiting loopholes and other deficiencies in the current law. If we had a responsible Congress, Shkreli could be put out of business.

  12. 12.

    Anne Laurie

    December 14, 2015 at 10:21 pm

    @redheadedfemme:

    This may be a dumb question, but if the FDA knows he’s doing this just to jack up the price and screw poor people over, why would they approve his application?

    I am not a lawyer, but I’d argue we don’t want the FDA to make value judgements about medical decisions — an FDA that can disapprove Pharma Bro’s application today (because: arsehole) can disapprove for instance an HIV vaccine tomorrow (because: Talibangelicals NO LIKE).

    Whether “we” can actually take politics out of the FDA approval process is a different issue, of course.

  13. 13.

    Davis X. Machina

    December 14, 2015 at 10:21 pm

    All that is, can be bought and sold.
    All that cannot be bought and sold, is not.
    All that can be bought and sold, must be bought and sold, at the highest price.

    This is the whole of the new Law, and the new Prophets — the rest is commentary.

  14. 14.

    redshirt

    December 14, 2015 at 10:22 pm

    I welcome this monster.

    It’s examples like this which get laws and regulations passed. Not the everyday thievery you hear nothing about.

  15. 15.

    beltane

    December 14, 2015 at 10:25 pm

    @redshirt: Congress will do nothing about this. Maybe they will even proclaim him to be a hero of free enterprise and entrepreneurship.

  16. 16.

    Sly

    December 14, 2015 at 10:28 pm

    @redheadedfemme:
    Under the relevant statutes, “the applicant is a complete fucking dickhead” is not a legally viable reason for the FDA to deny approval. The FDA basically asks two questions; does this work as advertised and does it have any side effects that people need to be aware of? And that’s actually a good thing, as these sorts of narrow criteria make it possible to keep the FDA free from political influence. Witness, for example, Obama’s attempt to squash the approval of OTC sale to minors of Plan B under the air-tight medical rationale that “I have daughters,” and the subsequent overruling of that action by the Federal courts based on the argument that the FDA, under the actual laws that govern its operation, isn’t allowed to do stuff like that.

    Keeping pricks like Shkreli from profiting off of misery shouldn’t be the job of the FDA anyway. It should be the job of the FTC, which enforces various antitrust and anti-competition provisions of Federal law.

  17. 17.

    Elizabelle

    December 14, 2015 at 10:30 pm

    guillotine bait

  18. 18.

    Waldo

    December 14, 2015 at 10:34 pm

    I don’t think it’s even about the money at this point. The weasel just enjoys the notoriety.

  19. 19.

    a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)

    December 14, 2015 at 10:34 pm

    @schrodinger’s cat: Short version: the pharma regulatory system was not designed with such a situation in mind. The business regulatory system rather encourages such rapacious business practices.

    OT: Is the male Indian name pronounced “durmindeh” properly spelled Dharminde? He’s a restaurant owner who likes to exchange cards. Last year I got it right, he said (!), but now I can’t recall how I spelled it.

  20. 20.

    GoBlue72

    December 14, 2015 at 10:35 pm

    The French had the right idea. As did Jefferson.

  21. 21.

    Turner Hedenkoff

    December 14, 2015 at 10:38 pm

    @ Elizabelle: “Mister, we could use a man like Robespierre again … “

  22. 22.

    trollhattan

    December 14, 2015 at 10:43 pm

    @beltane:
    Was gonna say, a congressional medal of honor isn’t nothing.

  23. 23.

    Belafon

    December 14, 2015 at 10:43 pm

    It only takes a tiny amount of radioactive material in a glass of water. Just sayin’.

  24. 24.

    Heliopause

    December 14, 2015 at 10:56 pm

    I’m gonna go all Sean Penn and hope this guy dies of rectal cancer:

    It would be better if you hoped that the system that allows this type of person to control lifesaving drugs would die of rectal cancer.

  25. 25.

    burnspbesq

    December 14, 2015 at 10:58 pm

    @schrodinger’s cat:

    Lawyers who comment on Balloon Juice, how is this not illegal?

    Hell if I know.

    My high school sweetheart is a senior scientist at the FDA (an infectious disease specialist), and I’m hoping she kicks this clown’s ass into the middle of next month.

  26. 26.

    p.a.

    December 14, 2015 at 10:59 pm

    @beltane:

    Congress will do nothing about this.

    Except in the unlikely event a close relative gets it. Then conservatism gets compassionate.

  27. 27.

    p.a.

    December 14, 2015 at 11:01 pm

    @Belafon: The ill have 2nd Amendment rights also…

  28. 28.

    schrodinger's cat

    December 14, 2015 at 11:02 pm

    @a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q): Possibly, Dharminder. Also a name of famous Hindi movie star of the 70s. Is this guy Sikh?

    Dharmendra would be the Sanskritized version

  29. 29.

    p.a.

    December 14, 2015 at 11:07 pm

    @a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q): The restaurant may have the license (with the owner’s name hopefully spelled correctly) on display. Or an online search of city/state permit, tax records if it’s really that important.

  30. 30.

    debbie

    December 14, 2015 at 11:10 pm

    Some stuff just shouldn’t be a source for large profits.

  31. 31.

    Ruckus

    December 14, 2015 at 11:14 pm

    @debbie:
    That is a communist/socialist/fascist statement. One of those three anyway.

    But very, very true.

  32. 32.

    BlueDWarrior

    December 14, 2015 at 11:14 pm

    Money has always ruled, but most people just inured themselves to that conscious thought. Now we don’t have enough things that can distract us from the thought that money rules, and unless something happens, we could head into another phase of societal panic and scapegoating as the frustrated masses try to vent this existential frustration.

  33. 33.

    a different chris

    December 14, 2015 at 11:15 pm

    This guy’s clearly no good at capitalism. Just think how much he could make if he raised the price to eleventy trillion dollars per dose.

  34. 34.

    Matt McIrvin

    December 14, 2015 at 11:16 pm

    @redshirt: Bill Murray AND Wu-Tang Clan! We might as well go for broke.

  35. 35.

    Anya

    December 14, 2015 at 11:18 pm

    Bowe Bergdahl will face a military court on on Desertion Charges. This is terrible. This is all happening because of the rightwing hysteria

  36. 36.

    Belafon

    December 14, 2015 at 11:27 pm

    @Anya:

    Bowe Bergdahl will face a military court on on Desertion Charges. This is terrible. This is all happening because of the rightwing hysteria

    Why is it terrible? He was in the military and left his camp on purpose. He’s facing the court for this reason.

  37. 37.

    Mnemosyne (tablet)

    December 14, 2015 at 11:32 pm

    @Anya:

    There probably would have been an inquiry no matter what, because he left the base without permission. But from what I remember of what SoonerGrunt posted when Bergdahl first returned, proving actual desertion (as opposed to AWOL) is a very high bar, especially since they knew very early on that he had been captured by the enemy.

  38. 38.

    Old Dan and Little Anne

    December 14, 2015 at 11:35 pm

    Fuck Sean Penn. And the other guy as well.

  39. 39.

    NJDave

    December 14, 2015 at 11:36 pm

    Why on earth aren’t we talking about extortion? “Pay me what I want or you die!” Isn’t that extortion? Isn’t extortion a key part of unregulated healthcare?

  40. 40.

    redshirt

    December 14, 2015 at 11:37 pm

    @Matt McIrvin: I’m no internet lawyer, but I thought it was Bill Murray or the Wu Tang Clan as potential thiefs. Not necessarily both together. BUT they could work together if they wanted and fulfill the clause as well.

  41. 41.

    Punchy

    December 14, 2015 at 11:39 pm

    This guy’s intentions are so blatant and telegraphed that I actually expect Congress to act. Old people both vote, and importantly, take a lot of meds. They’re gunna be scared shitless that their drug (s) is next on the screwjob list, and they’ll bumrush their Rep’s office accordingly.

  42. 42.

    Steve From Antioch

    December 14, 2015 at 11:43 pm

    I am shocked to learn that anyone in the healthcare, especially a drug company, is motivated by greed.

  43. 43.

    Anya

    December 14, 2015 at 11:43 pm

    @Belafon: if I remember correctly, the investigation didn’t prove desertion. He was also held by enemy and tortured. He’s suffered enough for his mistake.

  44. 44.

    Bill Arnold

    December 14, 2015 at 11:45 pm

    @Elizabelle:

    guillotine bait

    For roving, hungry guillotines.

  45. 45.

    boatboy_srq

    December 15, 2015 at 12:14 am

    @Anne Laurie: Got to agree here.

    Some of us remember what a PITA FDA was back in the 80s when HIV was a killer and the agency slow-tracked so many HIV meds. Ahmurrrca was a much less extreme place then, and it took high profile lobbying, major celebs dying of the bug and some very very loud queers to change policy – just to speed things up so the drugs were available (at any price). Blowback on Shkreli is going to be louder, quicker and more immediately effective than any of that was – although a few counts of voluntary manslaughter might be in order if the patent goes through and the repricing stays in place for any length of time.

    @Punchy:

    They’re gunna be scared shitless that their drug (s) is next on the screwjob list, and they’ll bumrush their Rep’s office accordingly

    I’ll bet you two Bevins to a Conway it ain’t gonna go down like that.

    @Sly:

    Keeping pricks like Shkreli from profiting off of misery shouldn’t be the job of the FDA anyway. It should be the job of the FTC, which enforces various antitrust and anti-competition provisions of Federal law.

    Unfortunately true. FDA has no control over pricing, only viability. Addressing this will take some agency with power over the former issue, and (unfortunately) the FTC is in the least bad position to do that.

  46. 46.

    Gvg

    December 15, 2015 at 12:18 am

    It hasn’t been explained to me how he thinks he has the right to sell an already existing drug. It seems like fraud to me.
    This guy doesn’t understand some things about capitalism like if the price is too high someone will counterfeit it and he will get less total profit. Also you can’t get blood from a stone nor that much money from poor people. He may get a high price from the insurance companies of 3 american’s that get it but he won’t get anything from the rest.
    I still find it inexplicable that he somehow gets to resell an already existing drug. He seems to like being hated in a way that seems counterproductive in a CEO. If I were a shareholder I wouldn’t be happy.

  47. 47.

    Petorado

    December 15, 2015 at 12:18 am

    I always thought it was a crime to use something as a weapon, approach vulnerable people and bark out, “Your money or your life!”

    Congrats to Shkreli for reducing capitalism to its amorally absurd conclusion.

  48. 48.

    rikyrah

    December 15, 2015 at 12:26 am

    Evil azz soulless muthaphucka

  49. 49.

    benw

    December 15, 2015 at 12:46 am

    Ha ha, joke’s on this loser. He could have downloaded Kendrick’s “To Pimp a Butterfly” for $15 and gotten the best record of the year.

  50. 50.

    danielx

    December 15, 2015 at 12:57 am

    …but I’m gonna go all Sean Penn and hope this guy dies of rectal cancer

    I’d settle for watching him trying to tread water, so to speak, in a lagoon of pigshit. And toss him an anvil as he’s going down.

  51. 51.

    scav

    December 15, 2015 at 1:09 am

    Here’s some different drug shenanigans, just as a reminder he’s the current mega star of a prevailing culture. Reckitt Benckiser and its four products – Nurofen Back Pain, Nurofen Period Pain, Nurofen Migraine Pain and Nurofen Tension Headache (all pricier) – which are all basically the same stuff: bog standard ibuprofen.

    Dr Aomesh Bhatt, the company’s medical affairs director said: “The Nurofen specific-pain range was launched with an intention to help consumers navigate their pain relief options, particularly within the grocery environment where there is no healthcare professional to assist decision making.”

  52. 52.

    Sherparick

    December 15, 2015 at 7:27 am

    @schrodinger’s cat: The wonders of monopolies, patent law, and trademark law, all enforced by the very State glibertarians pretend to loathe. The 19th century non-Marxist socialist Proudhon wrote that “all property is theft” and Mr. Shkreli appears set upon making it his life mission to prove the point. His defenders start mouthing “drug research” etc. etc., but actually this guy is as interested in spending his money on “drug research” as he is in winning the Nobel Peace Prize. But this worm is actually driving big Pharma crazy because they know if he keeps pulling these stunts the U.S. is going to end up at a minimum with Medicare/Medicaid price controls on drugs.

  53. 53.

    greennotGreen

    December 15, 2015 at 8:07 am

    While the moral choice for a drug company might be to price its drugs to assure a reasonable profit above its expenses, there is a perverse good in pricing a new drug astronomically: other drug companies look at that money and want to get in on the game, so they put money into research on similar drugs. For example, Orkambi for cystic fibrosis has been a life-changing treatment for some forms of the disease…and it’s something like $300,000 a year, BUT, because of all those zeroes, other drug companies are jumping into the ring to find therapies for this deadly genetic disease.

    That being said, I find almost all profit by drug companies to be at least somewhat immoral. The huge majority of the basic research they use to produce their drugs was paid for by the NIH and various nonprofits like America Heart, American Diabetes Association, etc. AKA, you and me. (I retired this year after 29 years in basic biomedical research.)

  54. 54.

    SFAW

    December 15, 2015 at 8:11 am

    @Sherparick:

    but actually this guy is as interested in spending his money on “drug research” as he is in winning the Nobel Peace Prize.

    Not to be too pedantic, but it would be either the Nobel Peace Prize for Medicine, or the Nobel Peace Prize for Vulture Capitalism.

  55. 55.

    SFAW

    December 15, 2015 at 8:16 am

    @Sherparick:

    But this worm is actually driving big Pharma crazy because they know if he keeps pulling these stunts the U.S. is going to end up at a minimum with Medicare/Medicaid price controls on drugs.

    It would be nice if that was his con, after all. Kind of a Brer Pharma riff. Hardly seems likely, however, especially considering who controls Congress. And considering that the Nader 2000 “things will get so bad that there will be a liberal Renaissance in America” didn’t work out so well.

    But one can still hope.

  56. 56.

    D58826

    December 15, 2015 at 8:42 am

    Well if anyone is crowdfunding to burn him at the stake I’ll chip in a few bucks for some wood and matches:-)

  57. 57.

    D58826

    December 15, 2015 at 8:47 am

    For example, Orkambi for cystic fibrosis has been a life-changing treatment for some forms of the disease…and it’s something like $300,000 a year, BUT, because of all those zeroes, other drug companies are jumping into the ring to find therapies for this deadly genetic disease.

    This might be a good thing if the other therapies are unique or give the doctors a different pathway to treating other variations of the disease. If they are just copycat drugs then it is still vulture capitalism because they all will charge the outlandish price.

  58. 58.

    FDRLincoln

    December 15, 2015 at 9:06 am

    Ahem….like many others I will preface this by saying that the following comment is negative and may be considered offensive by some.

    But it is creeps like this who make me think that Lenin was not totally wrong.

  59. 59.

    Keith

    December 15, 2015 at 9:43 am

    If importation of drugs was given the go-ahead then supplies could be obtained from manufacturers in Brazil – to whom Roche gifted the patents several years ago.

    I recall there is a candidate for POTUS floating importation as a cure for soaring drug costs.

  60. 60.

    stardus614

    December 15, 2015 at 9:48 am

    Not cancer, but if he should die in a fire, I wouldn’t weep.

  61. 61.

    Grumpy Code Monkey

    December 15, 2015 at 12:04 pm

    It’s a novel business model; price your drug so high that nobody will be able to afford it and no insurance will pay for it. Whom do they expect will buy these drugs?

    The inevitable result has to be that sales plummet and revenues dry up, right?. Meanwhile, competitors see an opening, and given that you’ve raised the bar so high, they can eat the startup costs and undercut you by 80% and still make out like bandits.

    I’m just a code monkey of very little brain, but this sounds like a bad business strategy. Sure, hike the price, say, 30%, people grump and complain, but they deal with it and move on and adjust their budgets accordingly. But this? You’re telling your customers to literally fuck off and die. How does this improve your bottom line when you can’t sell your product because nobody can afford it? How does this increase shareholder value?

    Unless the intent is to torpedo the business completely and somehow profit from a tax writeoff or something. We need an MBA to translate.

    Do note that it’s gotten Claire McKaskill’s attention, though.

  62. 62.

    J R in WV

    December 15, 2015 at 12:52 pm

    Mrs J takes a maintenance drug, let’s call it S. She pays for insurance to help her obtain the several drugs she needs at a lower cost. The Co-Pay for a 90 day supply of S is over $500 on her insurance. Her last doctor appointment she mentioned how expensive the co-pay was for S, and her doctor told her that the “cash on the barrel head” no insurance involved price at the clinic where he practices was $55.

    So not only is the insurance company robbing its clients by charging premiums and not doing much for the clients, it then turns around and overcharges a co-pay by an order of magnitude!!

    I think S is a generic now, but I could be wrong about that. How is this legal? I dunno… it is for sure immoral. Big brand name health care insurance company, too.

    Grrrrr! And I bet if she starts just paying the $55 for the essential-to-her-health S drug, the insurance company will squeal like a stuck pig and attempt to force her to go through them to obtain her medicine. Grrrr…

  63. 63.

    Tom

    December 16, 2015 at 8:01 am

    @J R in WV: We have a similar situation. My wife takes a maintenance drug that her insurance has decided to no longer cover after this year. Without insurance it costs $4000/month or $1K/dose.

    The pharmacy told me that we need to talk to the prescribing physician and do a lot of paperwork-fu on our end but there’s still no guarantee we can work this out.

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