Page 14 - Martin Shkreli Case Study

“My parents were immigrants and janitors,” Shkreli says. “[Trump]
inherited wealth! Fuck him. And I thought we could be friends.” (6)

Shkreli maintained that the company would use profits to improve the
drug's formulation and develop new, better drugs for the infection. In
addition some patients could also obtain financial aid from the company
to acquire the drug. In addition he claimed in an interview with
Bloomberg

“that the drug would be available to all those who need it, and that even
if there was a dispute with an insurer the patient would be sent their pills
while things were being sorted.”

Medical response to Shkreli claims for future drug research were such
that:

“attributing the price increase to the development of new treatments is
troubling,” Armstrong said, “as pyrimethamine is well-tolerated and has
not shown a decline in effectiveness that would provoke such research.”
“This is not an infection where we have been looking for more effective
drugs,” Armstrong said. “It is a single pill — once a day — that has
minimal side effects and, while it can lead to low blood counts, that effect
is very well-mitigated simply by the coadministration of a vitamin.” (4)
Wendy S. Armstrong, MD

Turing Pharma however thought that:
"Cost and coverage are not obstacles to treatment today ... physicians
do not report high out-of-pocket costs, required prior authorizations, or
other access barriers to toxo medications." (4)

Unfortunately for Shkreli and his board they misread medical resistance:

"Given your company's recent move to raise the price of pyrimethamine
over 5,000% to an incredible $750 a pill, I have decided not to meet with
representatives from Turing. ... I am also urging my colleagues here at
UNC, as well as at Duke, ECU, Wake Forest and other clinical centers
across our state to do likewise, until Turing announces a reasonable and
ethical reduction in the price of this important medication - a drug we rely
on most to treat toxoplasmosis." - Associate professor at University of
North Carolina, Oct. 1. (4)