https://www.smh.com.au/business/com...-to-research-coronavirus-20200408-p54i1p.html 'Pharma Bro' wants to be released from prison to research coronavirus New York: Convicted former drug company CEO Martin Shkreli, known as "Pharma Bro," wants to get out of prison so he can help research a treatment for the coronavirus, his lawyer said. Defence attorney Ben Brafman said that he will file court papers asking federal authorities to release Shkreli for three months so he can do laboratory work "under strict supervision." Martin Shkreli was sentenced to seven years in prison in 2018 for crimes that included lying to investors about the performance of two hedge funds he ran, withdrawing more money from those funds than he was entitled to get, and defrauding investors in a drug company, Retrophin, by hiding his ownership of some of its stock. Credit:AP His client - best known before his arrest for pharmaceutical price-gouging and his controversial online persona - is housed at a low-security prison in Pennsylvania. "I have always said that if focused and left in a lab, Martin could help cure cancer," Brafman said in a statement. "Maybe he can help the scientific community better understand this terrible virus." In a research proposal posted online, Shkreli called the pharmaceutical industry's response to the pandemic "inadequate" and said researchers at every pharmaceuticals company "should be put to work until COVID-19 is no more." Shkreli wrote that his background "as a successful two-time biopharma entrepreneur, having purchased multiple companies, invented multiple new drug candidates" would make him a valuable asset. "I am one of the few executives experienced in ALL aspects of drug development," he said, adding, "I do not expect to profit in any way, shape or form from coronavirus-related treatments." Shkreli, 37, was sentenced to seven years in prison in 2018 for crimes that included lying to investors about the performance of two hedge funds he ran, withdrawing more money from those funds than he was entitled to get, and defrauding investors in a pharmaceuticals company, Retrophin, by hiding his ownership of some of its stock. A judge ordered Shkreli to forfeit $US7.3 million ($11.8 million). Shkreli first gained notoriety by buying the rights to a lifesaving drug at another company in 2014 and raising the price from $US13.50 to $US750 per pill. He is also known for attacking critics on social media and offering a bounty to anyone who could give him one of Hillary Clinton's hairs. AP
So if he finds the vaccine or cure, he'll just charge the world a million dollars per dose. Fuck this guy, let him rot in prison.
✕ Bloomberg › https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...ase-from-prison-is-rejected?srnd=premium-asia Martin Shkreli’s Bid for Early Release From Prison Is Rejected Erik Larson May 16, 2020 Martin Shkreli’s request to get an early release from prison was rejected by a judge, who wasn’t convinced by the 37-year-old’s argument that he could use his pharmaceutical expertise to help cure coronavirus. “The court does not find that releasing Mr. Shkreli will protect the public, even though Mr. Shkreli seeks to leverage his experience with pharmaceuticals to help develop a cure for Covid-19 that he would purportedly provide at no cost,” District Judge Kiyo Matsumoto wrote in an order issued Saturday. “In any event, Mr. Shkreli’s self-described altruistic intentions do not provide a legal basis to grant his motion.” The judge also rejected the idea that Shkreli, who is scheduled to be released in October 2023, was susceptible to the virus because he suffers from asthma and allergies. The “Pharma Bro” was sentenced in March 2018 to seven years after being convicted of securities fraud for lying to investors in his hedge funds and manipulating shares in Retrophin Inc., a biotech company he founded. Some federal prisoners have gotten permission to serve out sentences in home confinement because of the pandemic. Last week, former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort, 71, was released from a low-security prison in Pennsylvania and allowed to go to his home in northern Virginia to serve the remainder of his 7 1/2–year sentence. Since late March, 2,785 of about 168,000 federal inmates have been released to home confinement, according to the Bureau of Prisons website.
Another person that doesn't know the story. First off, there was no patent on Daraprim. The drug was like 50 years old. Anyone could've made a generic form. It wasn't profitable for other drug makers to make it because only 300 people in the world needed it, so the other drug makers just stopped making it and were going to let the people who needed it die. Martin bought the rights to the daraprim name and started making it. He actually gave 70% of the drug to people either for free or for $1 per pill. It was only the hospitals and insurance companies he charged $750 per pill. Not one person died from not getting this drug. The media manipulated you all. Shame on you all for not looking into it.