Martin Shkreli, the former pharmaceutical CEO who acquired the moniker “Pharma Bro” after hiking the price of a life-saving HIV medicine by more than 5,000%, is making headlines again. This time, it’s for allegedly attempting to launch another pharmaceutical firm after being barred from the industry for life in a separate trial over the Daraprim debacle.
For breaking the order, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has asked a federal judge to punish Shkreli in contempt of court. U.S. District Court Judge Denise Cote stated in a 135-page order in the winter of 2022 that “Shkreli’s egregious, purposeful, persistent, long-running, and ultimately hazardous unlawful conduct merits enforcement of an injunction of this extent.”
The FTC also ordered that Shkreli’s firm, Vyera Pharmaceuticals, which was created in 2015 and was responsible for boosting the price of Daraprim, must repay the $64.6 million in earnings from the price increase. Vyera has paid the FTC its $40 million commitment, but Shkreli has failed to pay his part of $24.6 million.
Shkreli has been seeking to form a firm “that looks to be involved in the pharmaceutical sector” since July 2022, according to documents presented to the FTC on Friday. Druglike, according to reports, aims to “eliminate obstacles to early-stage drug research, enhance creativity, and allow a larger number of contributors to enjoy the profits.”
According to the FTC’s request to the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, “he has paid nothing toward the judgement and has made no steps to comply with this aspect of the Order.”
Contempt of court is punishable by jail time or fines, and given Shkreli’s prior criminal past, the penalty is likely to be harsher if he is proven guilty.
Shkreli has been experimenting with bitcoin in addition to his attempted comeback to the pharmaceutical sector. Martin Shkreli Inu, a cryptocurrency affiliated with his new firm, Druglike, was established. However, just two weeks after its introduction, the token dropped more than 72% to $0.00000678, and Shkreli blamed the failure on “hacking.”
Regardless of whether the cryptocurrency succeeds or fails, it is evident that Shkreli is not authorised by the court to create any company even indirectly associated with a medicine or prescription medications. The FTC claims that Shkreli failed to file compliance reports and violated a “clear and unequivocal” court order by attempting to launch Druglike.
