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The most hated Albanian, the USA permanently expels Martin Shkreli from the pharmaceutical industry, fined him with 64.6 million dollars

Politiko 2022-01-15 09:53:59

The most hated Albanian, the USA permanently expels Martin Shkreli from the

A U.S. court has permanently barred Martin Shkreli from the pharmaceutical industry and fined him $ 64.6 million after he was accused of raising the price of a life-saving drug, Daraprim, and struggling to block genetic competitors, writes Reuters .

U.S. District Judge Denise Cote in Manhattan ruled after a trial in which the U.S. Federal Trade Commission and seven states had accused Shkreli, the founder of Vyera Pharmaceuticals, of using illegal tactics to keep Daraprim rivals off the market.

Shkreli in 2015 increased the price of Daraprim overnight, $ 750 per tablet from $ 17.50. The drug treats toxoplasmosis, a parasitic infection that threatens people with weakened immune systems.

In a 130-page decision, Cote blamed Shkreli for setting up two companies, Vyera and Retrophin Inc., created to monopolize drugs so that it could benefit "at the expense" of patients, doctors and distributors.

She said the Daraprim scheme was "particularly heartless and coercive" and required a lifelong ban on the industry because of the "real danger" that Shkreli could become a repeat offender.

"Shkreli's anti-competitive behavior at the expense of public health was flagrant and reckless. "He is unrepentant," the court wrote.

Shkreli is serving a seven-year prison sentence for securities fraud. He did not attend the trial last month.

Vyera was founded in 2014 as Turing Pharmaceuticals, and bought Daraprim from Impax Laboratories Inc. in 2015.

Regulators accused Vyera of protecting Daraprim's dominance by ensuring that generic drugmakers could not take samples for cheaper versions and keeping potential rivals from buying a key ingredient.

The seven states that joined the FTC case included California, Illinois, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Virginia.

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