STAT+: Martin Shkreli’s former company pays $40 million for blocking competition for a life-saving drug
Six years after a national scandal erupted, a group of federal and state authorities have wrested a $40 million payout from the drug company once run by Martin Shkreli for drastically boosting the price of an old medicine and then concocting a scheme to illegally block competition. And his one-time friend and business partner, Kevin Mulleady, was banned from the pharmaceutical industry for seven years.
The infamous saga began when Vyera Pharmaceuticals, previously known as Turing Pharmaceuticals, bought Daraprim, a drug taken by HIV patients, and raised the price by more than 4,000% — from $17.50 a tablet to to $750. The move galvanized criticism of the pharmaceutical industry at a moment when the cost of prescription drugs was becoming a pocketbook issue for many Americans.
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