The Internet has a new target.
And the online world is only getting angrier at Martin Shkreli.
That’s because the 32-year-old a former hedge fund manager purchased the rights to an AIDS drug and immediately hiked its price from around $13.50 per tablet to $750.
The drug is called Daraprim and it’s been used for 62 years to treat life-threatening parasitic infections – most notably, those with HIV.
Turing Pharmaceuticals, which was founded by Shkreli, bought the rights to the drug in August and soon raised the price.
Not surprisingly, the move was met with outrage from both specialists in infectious disease and regular people who weren’t afraid to voice their opinions on Twitter.
Turing Pharmaceuticals owner, 32 year old douch bag motherfucker Martin Shkreli needs to accept that his karma,… http://t.co/gB6jLHovnd
— Lisa Stoutmoose (@stoutmoose) September 21, 2015
Unless there’s some defenders out there (I’m sure there are), I think Martin Shkreli has united every possible group in their hatred of him.
— Scott (@firescotch) September 21, 2015
“What is it that they are doing differently that has led to this dramatic increase?” said Dr. Judith Aberg, the chief of the division of infectious diseases at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. She said the price increase could force hospitals to use “alternative therapies that may not have the same efficacy,” according to the New York Times.
Shkreli told the Times that the price increase was to fund additional research for new drugs, but few are buying into this argument – including other companies in the pharmaceutical industry. He also claimed that the drug is used so infrequently that it would have minimal impact on the health care system.
“This is still one of the smallest pharmaceutical products in the world,” he said. “It really doesn’t make sense to get any criticism for this,” he told the Times.
In an attempt to defend himself, Shkreli has appeared on a variety of news programs including Bloomberg and CNBC to defend himself. He also quoted Eminem on Twitter:
“And it seems like the media immediately points a finger at me. So I point one back at em, but not the index or pinkie.”
Somehow, I have a feeling that the situation will only escalate from here.