A federal appeals court upheld a district court’s ruling banning a pharmaceutical company’s boss for life from the pharmaceutical industry after convicting him of price-gouging to monopolize control of a lifesaving drug, authorities said Tuesday.
The Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit upheld the District Court for the Southern District of New York’s decision to ban Martin Shkreli, the CEO of Vyera Pharmaceuticals (previously known as Turing Pharmaceuticals), for life in January 2022, New York Attorney General Letitia James said in a statement.
Shkreli’s company, Vyera, acquired the antiprotozoal drug Daraprim and suddenly inflated the price from $17.50 per pill to $750 per pill, stifling access to the drug and constraining patients and doctors to make difficult and risky therapeutic decisions, according to the statement.
Daraprim was the only Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved drug at the time for the treatment of toxoplasmosis, a life-threatening opportunistic infection in HIV/AIDS patients and other immunocompromised individuals, according to the statement. Vyera reportedly also tried to scuttle generic competition at the time. (RELATED: ‘Pharma Bro’ Gives Sam Bankman-Fried Advice For Potential Prison Time)
The court reportedly ordered Shkreli to pay $64.6 million in disgorgement to the states affected by his company’s decisions in addition to his lifetime ban, following the seven-day trial in December 2021. Shkreli’s business partner, Kevin Mulleady, was banned for seven years, and the company was ordered to pay $40 million, according to the statement.
Once again, we won our case against ‘Pharma Bro’ Martin Shkreli for his illegal scheme to monopolize a lifesaving drug.
A federal court just rejected his appeal, and he’ll be banned from the pharmaceutical industry for life and must pay $64.6 million.https://t.co/4OlXbavUVD
— NY AG James (@NewYorkStateAG) January 23, 2024
“I am the first inividual [sic] person in the history of the USA to be sued under the Sherman Act Section 2 (130 year old law) as a monopolist. Not Gates, Zuckerberg, Rockefeller, but little old me,” Shkreli reacted to the appeals court ruling in a tweet.
“For years, Martin Shkreli and his company made millions by putting vulnerable people at great risk and denying lifesaving medication. Our latest victory once again holds him accountable,” said Attorney General James, who sued Vyera, Shkreli and Mulleady back in January 2020, according to the statement.
Shkreli was serving a seven-year sentence in federal prison for securities fraud at the time James and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) sued the triumvirate, according to a separate statement.