Page 124 - CL Armchair Case
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Case Rationale
This case study Turing Pharma: Shkreli and Shorting is a
teaching case
The pharmaceutical industry is under pressure to deliver
drugs at affordable prices but some CEO’s prefer to charge
monopoly prices or simply what the market will bear.
The case study highlights Martin Shkreli and his actions
providing a compelling narrative on the state of US
corporate activity in the pharmaceutical industry. It also
addresses some of the ethical issues behind Shkreli’s
‘profit at all costs’ attitude and his potential manipulation
of financial operations through ‘shorting’ to maintain his
position and managerial control.
Shkreli claimed that his real goal was to invent new drugs
for rare diseases. However, all the evidence points to no
new drugs being produced or undertaken but rather old
drugs being milked by massively inflating their prices
based upon a quasi-monopoly situation. All of this was
