Page 559 - The Case Lab Book
P. 559
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 done against a
background of political, media and medical profession
criticism.
