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Pharma Bro Martin Shkreli was slapped on Thursday with a class action lawsuit against health insurers who claim he is engaged in a scheme to create a pharmaceutical monopoly that has allowed him to raise the price of an anti-HIV drug more than 4000%.
In the Manhattan federal lawsuit, Blue Cross and Minnesota Blue Shield said that Shkreli – and his company Vyera Pharmaceuticals – created the Daraprin drug monopoly in 2015, among other tactics, preventing “competitors from getting the drugs. samples of Daraprim they needed to launch a generic product. ”
Shkreli and his company then covered up the scheme, according to the complaint, by publicly denying efforts to prevent competitors from taking samples.
In the absence of competition, Shkreli increased the price of the drug – which is used to treat toxoplasmosis and also given to HIV-positive patients with weakened immune systems – from $ 17.50 to $ 750 in 2015.
“The defendants determined that they could impose monopoly prices and reap significant profits at the expense of the plaintiff and the class members, who were forced to pay inflated prices in violation of federal antitrust laws,” the lawsuit said.
The companies are seeking unspecified damages to be determined at a jury trial.
Shkreli grabbed the headlines after inflating the life-saving drug’s price in 2015 – and was convicted of securities fraud in an unrelated case with two hedge funds he managed.
He is currently serving a seven-year sentence after his conviction in 2017.
Shkreli returned to the headlines in 2020 after a former Bloomberg News reporter admitted she fell in love with the Pharma Bro while covering her trial in Brooklyn federal court.
Christie Smythe, 38, told Elle magazine that she “fell down the rabbit hole” in her relationship with Shkreli – and ended up separating from her husband and leaving their Brooklyn apartment.
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