Retired wrestling icon the “Iron Sheik” has challenged an embattled pharmaceutical executive to meet him in the ring.
Suffice it to say, things have gotten weird in the drug pricing debate.
The Iron Sheik, a beloved villain in the WWE, called out Martin Shkreli, the CEO of Turing Pharmaceuticals, with colorful language on Twitter on Monday, adding his voice to the online vitriol directed at the 32-year-old former hedge fund manager.
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Shkreli’s company ignited a public backlash over raising the price of the anti-parasite drug Daraprim from $13.50 a pill to $750 almost overnight.
Shkreli said that the reason was to devote money to a new treatment to replace the decades-old Daraprim, but doctors said the current drug worked just fine.
The CEO fired back on Twitter Monday, tweeting that The Iron Sheik “hasn’t been relevant in 30 years. Better sit down old man — you could get hurt.”
Shkreli said he would put the Sheik in a “pharma clutch,” a reference to the Sheik’s signature “camel clutch” wrestling move.
The wrestler, whose real name is Hossein Khosvrow Ali Vasiri, was a villain people loved to hate back in the 1980s. He was the subject of a 2014 documentary called “The Sheik.”
The Twitter feud is the latest that Shkreli has engaged in since the backlash erupted last month when news of Daraprim’s price hike became public.
Shkreli has battled with CNBC over whether he would come on the network to talk about rival drug maker Valeant Pharmaceuticals, which is coming under similar scrutiny for high drug prices.
He also feuded with presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, who refused a donation from the pharma CEO.
