The CEO of a drug company that jacked up the price of what had been a cheap anti-malaria drug has been arrested on securities fraud charges.
Martin Shkreli, 32, is the CEO of Turing Pharmaceuticals, and he’s someone Congress has had its eye on since he bought the drug Daraprim and boosted its price by 5,000 percent. That move led to immediate criticism from Democrats, but even some Republicans who said Shkreli was unfairly leveraging a monopoly to take money from sick people.
Before Shkreli took over, Daraprim cost $13.50 per tablet of the lifesaving drug, but the company now wants $750.
According to Bloomberg, Shkreli was arrested in New York Thursday morning on securities fraud charges.
Specifically, he’s accused of taking stock from one company to pay debts related to his other business dealings.
In December, Republican lawmakers asked Shkreli to testify about rising drug prices.
In November, Shkreli’s company said it would cut the price for Daraprim in half for some hospitals, but that wasn’t enough to satisfy lawmakers.
Democrats in particular were outraged at Shkreli’s pricing practices, and Democratic candidates for president have cited the company as a reason to set policies to prevent greedy companies from gouging consumers.
