Nicholas Lim
Shrewd as Shkreli
“On the advice of counsel, I invoke my Fifth Amendment privilege against
self-incrimination, and decline to answer that question.” Over and over again, he
repeated himself before the congressional committee. With a condescending
smile and soulless eyes, he endured the grueling bombardment of questions with
a respectable composure, but a despicable attitude. In an equally impressive
display of patience, members of the Congress bore the brunt of his frustrating
replies and appalling behavior that would have driven any sane man over the
table to sock him in the jaw.
Reviled or revered, Martin Shkreli is no stranger to the internet and the
pharmaceutical industry. Comparing himself to “the robber barons,” he was the
CEO of Turing Pharmaceuticals and garnered notoriety by hiking the price of a
particular drug, Daraprim, from $13.50 a pill to $750, an alarming surge of more
than 5000 percent (Rushton). Daraprim is used to treat toxoplasmosis, a
common parasite that is most prevalent amongst AIDS and pregnant patients.
Serving as the poster child of the stereotypical Machiavellian businessman,
Shkreli sparked international outrage when his actions reached mainstream
media. However, had he raised the price gradually, it would be unlikely that such
backlash would occur today despite the same result.
Price gouging is rampant in the free market of pharmaceutics today. Its
effects have long gone unnoticed as conglomerate businesses cleverly disguise
such abuse in a shroud of PR advertisements and philanthropic cover ups. Martin
Shkreli’s perceived monstrosity only indicates the symptoms of a much graver
disease. Revered as one of the greatest achievements in human history, medicine
has fallen from its grace to greed and corruption. It may seem that sustaining
profit in a company is essential for the development of the economy. However, on
closer inspection, unjustifiably raising the prices of life-saving drugs damages the
reputation of health care and risks the suffering of patients that depend on it.
There is a flaw in pharmaceutics today, and it must be fixed.
We are often blinded by anger amidst events relating to welfare and
