Martin Shkreli is fascinating

[bennyboy]

I've thought of Martin Shkreli as evil for the last few months since his repricing.  But it turns out there are many video chat sessions with this particular devil.  Fun stuff. . . if you go to youtube, you can link to more like this:

[Aegon]

I actually know a guy who was in a video chat with him! I don't know him well so I haven't talked to him about it, but it sounds like Shkreli isn't as outwardly evil as the media makes him out to be.

[Mermaid]

The guy on the lower right is painfully ignorant.It hurts to listen to him. I think Shkreli is a douche, but he's right.

[bennyboy]

The guy speaking is painfully ignorant.

To be frank, I'm wondering if Shkreli is telling the truth.  Certainly, what he's saying makes sense, and the idea that the media are spitefully fucking with him sounds pretty plausible.

[Mermaid]

The truth about what? I think his behavior is inappropriate but what he is saying about patents and generics and the size of the market is absolutely true.

[bennyboy]

The truth about what? I think his behavior is inappropriate but what he is saying about patents and generics and the size of the market is absolutely true.

Then why is his behavior inappropriate?  If it turns out, for example, that his drug was far undervalued, and that even after the price raise, his company lost money, then that would seem to show he's sincere.

What I can't understand is why would someone pay $50,000,000 for a drug that is so little needed, and does not even have a patent?

It seems to me that he probably DID intend on making a huge profit, and backpedaled when he realized how much he was hated.

[vorlon13]

I wonder who's approval rating is lower, congress (what, around 9% these days?) or Martin's ?

And is he really 'evil' if he couldn't do what he does without the GROSS incompetence of the US government/FDA in managing meds ?

He's a proverbial canary in the coal mine alerting us to just how fucked up the system is.

[Mermaid]

The truth about what? I think his behavior is inappropriate but what he is saying about patents and generics and the size of the market is absolutely true.

Then why is his behavior inappropriate?  If it turns out, for example, that his drug was far undervalued, and that even after the price raise, his company lost money, then that would seem to show he's sincere.

What I can't understand is why would someone pay $50,000,000 for a drug that is so little needed, and does not even have a patent?

It seems to me that he probably DID intend on making a huge profit, and backpedaled when he realized how much he was hated.

Okay, gotcha. I agree with this. It does make one wonder why he would invest in this sort of losing proposition. There is a piece missing.
His behavior in court, the smirking and smarminess is what I am referring to.

[Minimalist]

He's a greedy scumbag.

[Fidel_Castronaut]

Excellent article in the New Yorker:

http://www.newyorker.com/culture/cultura...-the-point