Martin Shkreli pleads the Fifth, refuses to answer questions at Congressional hearing on drug pricing
The result was a very public scolding of Shkreli by the members of Congress.
As expected, former Turing CEO Martin Shkreli on Thursday invoked his Fifth Amendment rights while members of a Congressional committee grilled pharmaceutical executives about the high price of prescription drugs.
Shkreli's trademark smirk was often in evidence during the hearing, though he chose not to answer any questions posed to him.
The result was a very public scolding of Shkreli by the members of Congress. Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Maryland told Shkreli, "It's not funny," after saying drug company executives were lining their pockets at the expense of vulnerable families.
"People are dying and they're getting sicker and sicker," Cummings said to Shkreli. "Rightly or wrongly you've been viewed as the bad boy of the pharmaceutical industry. You have the spotlight, you can use that attention to come clean ... become one of the patient advocates in the country. I know you're smiling but I'm very serious sir. You can go down in history as the poster boy for greedy drug company prices ... or you could become a force of tremendous good."
[Also: Martin Shkreli arrested for securities fraud, allegedly ran 'Ponzi scheme' type of shell game]
About an hour into the hearing by the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, after Shkreli had pleaded the Fifth Amendment numerous times to all questions except how to pronounce his last name, Chairman Jason Chaffetz asked to have the Turing founder escorted from the room.
Rep. John Mica, R-Florida asked if Shkreli could be held in contempt, but Chaffetz said it was not his intent.
Shkreli is under indictment on charges of security fraud for allegedly running a Ponzi-like scheme at two former hedge fund companies he managed. He has resigned as head of Turing.
Last year, he was vilified for raising the price of the life-saving AIDS pill Daraprim from $13.50 to $750, after Turing bought the rights to the drug.
Daraprim remains the only FDA-approved drug to treat toxoplasmosis, a parasitic disease dangerous to those with weakened immune systems.
[Also: Martin Shkreli fired from KaloBios, says 'pharma bro' persona led to federal probe]
"I believe decisions made by company (have been) appropriate," said Turing's Chief Commercial Officer Nancy Retzloff, saying nearly 60 percent of Turing's net revenue is invested in R&D.
Valeant interim CEO Howard Schiller was also on the hot seat, confirming a statement posed by Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-New York, that 80 percent of the company's growth during the first quarter came from an increase in the price of the company's drugs.
Rep. John Duncan, R-Tennessee, said pharmaceutical companies traditionally spend over 20 percent on research and development, but Valeant averages just three percent.
"When we price our drugs try to take into account clinical value …" Schiller said.
Mark Merritt, CEO of the Pharmaceutical Care Association said there's a bait and switch on co-pays in which coupons are offered to consumers to get brand name drugs while the third parties, such as the government, get hit with hundreds of thousands of dollars to pay for the most expensive brands.
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"Co-pay coupons should be considered illegal kickbacks," Merritt said.
Dr. Janet Woodcock, head of drug center at the FDA, said about 88 percent of prescriptions are generic drugs, saving $1.7 trillion.
Over the past three years, there's been a backlog of over 6,000 applications for generics that is being cleared, she said. Over 1,700 have been approved.
"The good news is that over 90 percent of applications have received review at the FDA or review communications," she said.
Twitter: @SusanJMorse
