Martin Shkreli - Hero or Zero?

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He looks a bit like a young Matthew Broderick from the movie Ferris Bueller's Day Off. His name is Martin Shkreli and he's best known as "America's Most Hated Man." The question is -why? What on earth did this man do that could justify such a label?

When I think of who the most hated woman might be, I think of someone like Casey Anthony, a woman who walked out of jail after she killed her 2-year-old daughter, left her rotting inside her car trunk for at least a few days, and dumped her like garbage on the side of a road near her home. She is a deplorable person who very much deserves the label of being most hated. Did Martin do something similar? Well, if you go by many in the mainstream media, it sure sounds like it.

Reports on Martin and his actions have been rather negative yet, I knew when I first heard of Martin, something didn't sound right. Something was definitely askew and the reason I say this is because whenever the media piles on someone in this way, it usually (not always but usually), ends up being a jumbled mountain of lies.

Martin is very different from other villains in the media. He doesn't seem to be phased much by the way he's portrayed; he appears to embrace it. His middle finger seems to be making a constant solute toward the mainstream and for some of us this is endearing.

Shkreli was quite young, around 12 years old, when he took a strong interest in the stock market. He wanted to know all about it and as a result of this passion, it led him to an internship at a hedge fund when he was merely 17 years of age. It appears he was very successful in this world and later on he would develop an interest in chemistry.

In 2011, Shkreli moved onto another business, Retrophin. Their goal was to create treatment and cures for rare illnesses. It is at this point of Martin's story where things begin to get a bit complicated. The board eventually decided to replace Shkreli citing immaturity and lack of focus.

In 2015, they decided to bring a lawsuit against him saying, he had breached his duty of loyalty to the biopharmaceutical company in a long-running dispute over his use of company funds and "committed stock-trading irregularities and other violations of securities rules". Also, it is claimed he harassed a former employee from MSMB Capital Management LP. Within the context of these harassing messages, Martin claims this employee stole money from the company.

On December 17, 2015, the Securities and Exchange Commission officially filed fraud charges against Shkreli. Since this time, Shkreli has invoked his 5th Amendment Rights and refuses to answer questions.

Earlier in Feb of 2015, Shkreli moved on to find another company naming it, Turing Pharmaceuticals. For the cost of $55 million, Turning acquired a rare drug called Daraprim. This particular drug has been around since 1953 and is used to treat toxoplasmosis, a parasitic disease that can greatly affect people with a weakened immune system. This includes patients with AIDS.

In the minds of the mainstream media and his critics, this is the turning point where Shkreli turns into a villain. This drug, Daraprim, at the time Shkreli obtained it, was being sold for $13.50 per pill. Overnight Shkreli hiked this price up to $750 per pill.

Now, of course, to the outsider, this sounds awful - understandably. Someone like myself who happens to know about chemistry and how drugs are created, I was skeptical. I figured there might be a reason for this price hike, more than him being a "greedy capitalist." Sure enough, Shkreli does provide an answer and he does so in a very logical manner.

Before I go further, I would like to address a few things about Shkreli. It has only been about 3 days that I have attempted to dive into the mind of this truly unique individual. I have binged watched hours and hours of his YouTube channel and some various interviews he's given. The first of these was with Milo Yiannopolis, and this, of course, is what sparked my interest in digging deeper into who Martin is.

1) I do not know Mr. Shkreli. I remain skeptical yet, open-minded reguarding the actual charges against him pertaining specifically to the securities fraud. I do know that his rationale for raising the price of this drug is very sound; he did not commit any crime by doing so. This price hike is the main reason so many people claim to have issues with him yet, they also seem to not be interested in taking the time to slow down and understand why. I guess they just find it easier to act self-righteous and dismiss him, belittle him, and judge him.

2) Is Shkreli a sociopath? This accusation has been made concerning Shkreli by his enemies. I have to say initially I believed this to be possible because he does exhibit some traits similar to a sociopath. Nothing seems to really phase this guy. Also, we know from psychology that CEO's and certain leadership roles can and do attract many sociopaths. However, let's get this out of the way - just because someone is a sociopath, doesn't mean they are a criminal. The term simply means someone who lacks empathy and in many cases, this can be a very valuable trait.

Without actually meeting him and being around him, there is no way for anyone of us to know for certain if he is indeed a sociopath. There could also be many other reasons he comes across so aloof and one of those reasons likely stems from the fact that this man is hit left and right, day after day, with accusations from people who haven't bothered to look into the full story. As I stated before, the general public only seems interested in pouncing on this guy because they want an enemy, someone to hate. It's really disturbing watching this and it happens all the time. Even a cursory search of this man and you will see people have posted parts of their private PM's or DM's with hm. They make wild accusations calling him a killer and cold-hearted but it's clear they haven't read anything that might explain his reasoning. The bottom line, if any one of us were him, we might not appear too cheery and full of love either.

3) Martin purchased a Wu-Tang album for $2 million. So? I'm not going to address this at all. He's got money. He can spend it how he likes. I'm not sure why anyone feels this is any of their business. We all spend money on stupid shit; he just happens to have more than most. Americans need to start worrying about what the hell they do with their OWN money before they feel the need to point their finger at someone else. Martin isn't living off the government. So it's not anyone's business what he does with his money. This also applies to these magic cards he's purchasing. I don't care. It matters not. I don't even know what those cards are.

4) Finally, as for the actual charges, Shkreli has a case pending and he will have a trial. Here is a summary for you to peruse at your leisure. I have no idea how he will eventually respond to these charges. He doesn't answer any direct questions concerning these accusations since it appears this is what has been advised to him by his attorney. As with ALL cases, the public needs to patiently wait for the facts to come out and what the final outcome will be.

Now, back to Daraprim...

1) Yes, the pill was being sold at $13.50 per pill but the company that made it - the one Shkreli bought was losing money. There was no question the product price had to be raised. The only question was how much would be enough to sustain the ability to manufacture the drug and ensure his investors, along with himself, were making a profit.

2) Shkreli wanted to make sure to raise the price of this drug in order to also fund further research and development for another enhanced version of this drug. As he explains in his various interviews and videos online, Daraprim has not been updated since it was first developed in the 1950's. An update is necessary since it is being reported that there is a lot of resistance building up in the toxoplasmosis gene pool. Shkreli describes the drug as being something that just kills everything - much like how some old chemotherapies worked. A new version of the drug would help bypass resistance and have a greater ability to attack only the toxoplasma.

Since this drug treats a very rare illness, most companies are simply not interested in putting money into creating a better drug. There are only a few thousand people in the US who take the drug and he is not allowed to sell outside the US. The limited customer base restricts the companies' ability to make a profit and to make enough to invest in more research and development.

3) Among rare disease drugs, Daraprim is one of the lowest costing drugs. There are other drugs for rare diseases that cost as much as $400,000 per year to take. In contrast, a course of Daraprin consists of only 84 pills, which in total, costs around $63,000. The company has a 40% gross to net, which means they are making $24,200 profit per course. About 60% of their product is actually given away to patients who cannot afford the drug due to lack of insurance.

Watch Shkreli himself explain...

The first video is brilliant in that it contrasts what people like The Young Turks are peddling vs. what Martin has been saying. You can decide for yourself who is more credible.



This second video shows Shkreli offering a full, concise argument. Enjoy.

What many people do not realize is how difficult it is to create a new drug. There is a long tedious process that is required for synthesizing, and in most cases, enantiomers must be isolated as well, but also the equipment that is used in labs is very expensive. Of course, when you top this all off with a drug that is for treating a rare condition, a company really limits itself unless they can charge enough for their product. All companies need to make money, it's an incentive but it also sustains the existence of a company in order to ensure the drug is being made.

Martin justifies the high cost as being just for the insurance companies but one could argue those costs still are passed down to consumers since they will spread the cost out. It is a difficult situation because while someone like Shkreli is hardly a saint, he has not done anything here that many other pharmaceutical companies have done themselves or any company for that matter. People are quick to blame capitalism but without some incentive, e.g., money, a lot of these drugs would never be made. Without many of these drugs, people would otherwise die.

Without a doubt, there is more to the story than what most in the media are willing to reveal but one thing is for sure, as the American public, we need to be more skeptical of the information that is being fed to us. While it's possible Shkreli will still end up being the bad guy who took money and hid it from investors, he certainly did nothing wrong concerning the price hike on Daraprim. 

Pissing Politicians Off

According to the internet, this tweet by Hilary concerning Shkreli was made in September of 2015. It is possible that because of the price hike (which was indeed completely legal and justified), someone in the government decided to target Shkreli. Rather than explain to the public why Shkreli did what he did, politicians decided to use power plays, turn Martin into a villain, then go after him full force so they can get hero-credit. 

To be honest, I'm not a conspiracy person at all but, it seems strikingly odd that the government hadn't noticed Shkreli until the alarming price hike. I'm merely suggesting this "targeting" would not be out of the realm of possibility.

So is he a hero or zero? That will be for you to decide. For me, he seems like the rest of us in that we all have good and bad qualities. I would say he's somewhere in between, although he is quite a bit smarter. 


Vanity Fair did an article on Shkreli, which you can read here. Martin can be found on Twitter and YouTube.