"In one breath, he calls himself a capitalist and in the next an altruist—the latter because, he claims, his real goal is to invent new drugs for rare diseases. Turing recently announced discounts of Daraprim for hospitals, and Shkreli says that for people without insurance it will cost only $1 a pill. For everyone else, insurance, which he argues is paid for by corporate America’s profits, will cover the cost. “I’m like Robin Hood,” he continues. “I’m taking Walmart’s money and doing research for diseases no one cares about.”"
"Turing said it would offer smaller bottles of 30 tablets to make it easier and cheaper for hospitals to carry the drug, and free sample packages for doctors needing to treat patients in emergency situations. The company estimates that "nearly all patients will receive Daraprim for $10 or less out-of-pocket per prescription.
While Turing is dropping the price for hospitals, it is not reducing the list price of Daraprim at pharmacies, because that would not help patients, Retzlaff said."
"Additionally for the outpatient setting, Turing will continue to:
* Participate in federal and state programs such as Medicaid and the Section 340B discount program having costs as low as $1 per 100-pill bottle, which currently account for about two-thirds of Daraprim sales. (!!!)
* Commit to patients with commercial insurance that their out-of-pocket obligation will be no more than $10 per prescription when Turing's co-pay program is used.
* Contribute to Patient Services Inc (PSI), a longstanding independent charity that provides financial assistance for Medicare patients' cost-sharing requirements on toxoplasmosis therapies, consistent with PSI's advisory opinion from the HHS Office of Inspector General.
* Provide Daraprim free-of-charge to uninsured, qualified patients with demonstrated income at or below 500% of the federal poverty level through our Patient Assistance Program."
This is the core reason that Shkreli got raked over the coals. He went on television and clearly broadcast that he didn't care about the rules or conventions of the ruling class. He was going to make the noise he felt proper, and he was in a position with too much influence to tolerate such noise-making -- that's besides his failure to cave to their pressure to lower the price back down and/or provide some other form of damage control when faced with media pressure, as most executives would've (resulting in a win for insurance companies).
Shkreli was naive to believe that he could signal his non-compliant thought process without becoming a target for those who are seriously invested in maintaining the status quo. The people who work to maintain this careful balance between public exploitation and complacency immediately recognized it as something they couldn't tolerate and set up to paint him as the sniveling, greedy bad guy who liked watching babies die.
Everyone should pay attention. Anyone who does anything more complex than collecting a standard W2 paycheck can easily be brought up on a variety of white-collar charges (and those who just collect a paycheck can be brought up moderately easily).
Shkreli is an example of why you have to be careful what you say and can't just come out and let the cold hard truth do the talking for you. Spinmasters and assailants are lurking out there, and they will turn nasty quick if they interpret a threat.
Watch your back out there. Shkreli is a peer of many of us who read HN. It can happen to you, too.
"In one breath, he calls himself a capitalist and in the next an altruist—the latter because, he claims, his real goal is to invent new drugs for rare diseases. Turing recently announced discounts of Daraprim for hospitals, and Shkreli says that for people without insurance it will cost only $1 a pill. For everyone else, insurance, which he argues is paid for by corporate America’s profits, will cover the cost. “I’m like Robin Hood,” he continues. “I’m taking Walmart’s money and doing research for diseases no one cares about.”"
http://money.cnn.com/2015/11/25/news/companies/turing-pharma...
"Turing said it would offer smaller bottles of 30 tablets to make it easier and cheaper for hospitals to carry the drug, and free sample packages for doctors needing to treat patients in emergency situations. The company estimates that "nearly all patients will receive Daraprim for $10 or less out-of-pocket per prescription.
While Turing is dropping the price for hospitals, it is not reducing the list price of Daraprim at pharmacies, because that would not help patients, Retzlaff said."
https://www.thepharmaletter.com/article/turing-pharma-reduce...
"Additionally for the outpatient setting, Turing will continue to:
* Participate in federal and state programs such as Medicaid and the Section 340B discount program having costs as low as $1 per 100-pill bottle, which currently account for about two-thirds of Daraprim sales. (!!!)
* Commit to patients with commercial insurance that their out-of-pocket obligation will be no more than $10 per prescription when Turing's co-pay program is used.
* Contribute to Patient Services Inc (PSI), a longstanding independent charity that provides financial assistance for Medicare patients' cost-sharing requirements on toxoplasmosis therapies, consistent with PSI's advisory opinion from the HHS Office of Inspector General.
* Provide Daraprim free-of-charge to uninsured, qualified patients with demonstrated income at or below 500% of the federal poverty level through our Patient Assistance Program."