Martin Shkreli
Martin Shkreli (born April 1, 1983) is an Albanian American[1] hedge fund manager and entrepreneur, specializing in healthcare businesses and is a co-founder of MSMB Capital Management, of Retrophin, Inc. and the founder of Turing Pharmaceuticals AG.
He was a co-founder and the Chief Executive Officer of Retrophin LLC, a biotechnology firm founded in 2011.[2][3][dead link]
In September 2015, he was criticized by several public health organizations for obtaining patents to life-saving medicines like pyrimethamine (brand name Daraprim) and increasing the prices of the drugs in the US, sometimes by more than 5000%. Pyrimethamine is listed in the World Health Organization's List of Essential Medicines, a list of the most important medications needed in a basic health system. He was accused of manipulating the price and taking these basic drugs out of of reach of millions of needy patients worldwide.[4]
Early career
In 2000, Shkreli began working for Jim Cramer at Cramer, Berkowitz, & Co. He then spent three years at Intrepid Capital Management working in healthcare stock-picking under Steve Shapiro, a "Tiger Cub" and protégé of Julian Robertson of Tiger Management.
Healthcare investing
Shkreli started MSMB Capital Management (named after the two founding Portfolio Managers, Martin Shkreli and Marek Biestek) in 2009.[5]
Retrophin
Retrophin was created and run from the offices of MSMB Capital as a portfolio company with an emphasis in biotechnology, dedicated to creating treatments for orphan diseases.[3] Shkreli was fired by Retrophin's Board with Stephen Aselage being named as his replacement in September 2014. Retrophin filed a $65 million dollar lawsuit against Shkreli in August 2015, claiming he breached his duty of loyalty to the biopharmaceutical company in a long-running dispute over his use of company funds.[6][7]
Controversy
In September 2014 Retrophin acquired the rights to Thiola, a drug used to treat the rare disease cystinuria. It was with Shkreli as CEO that Retrophin introduced a 20-fold price increase for Thiola, despite no additional research and development costs incurred by obtaining these rights.[8][9]
Shkreli was also criticized by CREW (Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington) for the alleged manipulation of the FDA regulatory process in order to move stock prices for his own financial gain,[10] though these allegations did not result in any charges.
On August 17, 2015, Retrophin filed suit[11] against Shkreli seeking $65 million in damages.
In August 2015, as executive chairman of Turing Pharmaceuticals, Martin Shkreli raised the price of Daraprim from $13.50 per pill to $750 per pill — a 5,455% increase[4] — shortly after purchasing the rights to the drug. Turing has exclusive rights to market Daraprim, which has been on the market since 1953.[12] While the patent has long expired, no company is currently manufacturing generic pyrimethamine. [13]
Esports involvement
Shkreli is a League of Legends player who goes by the name "Cerebral" and began expressing interest in purchasing an esports team in 2014.[14] Enemy eSports announced that they had rejected a $1.2 million offer from Shkreli. Eventually he founded his own team, Odyssey eSports, and aimed to qualify for the 2015 North American League of Legends Challenger Series. The team lost to Cloud9 Tempest in the qualifying tournament and failed to qualify. In August, Odyssey merged with Imagine, with Shkreli becoming Chairman of the team.[15][16]
References
- ^ "Shqiptaro amerikani anëtar i revistës Forbes - financë "30 under 30"". BotaSot. Dec 29, 2012.
- ^ Nussbaum, Alex (Aug 3, 2011). "MSMB Capital Makes Unsolicited $378M Bid For AMAG Pharmaceuticals". Bloomberg.
- ^ a b "Retrophin: About Us". Cite error: The named reference "Retrophin" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
- ^ a b "Drug Goes From $13.50 a Tablet to $750, Overnight". The New York Times. Sep 20, 2015.
- ^ "Pfizer Board comes under fire". Financial Times. Dec 8, 2010.
- ^ http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-08-17/retrophin-sues-founder-shkreli-for-65-million-in-u-s-court
- ^ http://www.forbes.com/sites/arleneweintraub/2015/08/18/retrophin-sues-founder-martin-shkreli-for-65m-his-reply-preposterous/
- ^ http://www.thestreet.com/story/12873639/1/retrophin-assailed-for-exorbitant-drug-price-hike.html
- ^ http://pipeline.corante.com/archives/2014/09/11/the_most_unconscionable_drug_price_hike_i_have_yet_seen.php
- ^ http://www.citizensforethics.org/legal-filings/entry/crew-uncovers-another-short-seller-gaming-the-regulatory-system
- ^ [1]
- ^ http://usuncut.com/news/company-hikes-price-5000-for-life-saving-cancer-and-aids-drug
- ^ https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20150919/20520132300/company-acquires-rights-to-drug-used-aidscancer-patients-immediately-raises-per-pill-price-under-14-to-750.shtml
- ^ Wolf, Jacob (May 6, 2015). "Millionaire pharmaceutical CEO set to shake up Challenger scene with new team". The Daily Dot. Retrieved August 27, 2015.
- ^ Wolf, Jacob (August 7, 2015). "Imagine and Odyssey merge, add Leviathan Dota 2 squad". The Daily Dot. Retrieved August 27, 2015.
- ^ Ciubotaru, Andra (August 18, 2015). "Recently merged League of Legends organization adds Team Leviathan Dota 2 squad". DotaBlast. Retrieved August 27, 2015.