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Martin Shkreli is tired of being pharma’s favorite scapegoat.

Shkreli, the former drug company CEO who rocketed to notoriety when he hiked the price of an old drug by 5,000 percent, routinely gets blamed by other pharma CEOs for tarnishing the reputation of the entire industry. On Monday, the trade group PhRMA launched a new multi-million dollar ad blitz specifically aimed at distancing itself from Shkreli.

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The public discourse on drugs “has been focused on some guy in a hoodie,” PhRMA CEO Stephen Ubl told CNBC, in a reference to Shkreli’s trademark attire. The new campaign, he said, will show the world that the drug industry is about hard work and scientific discovery, not price gouging. Or, as he put it: “Less hoodie, more lab coats.”

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  • This guys shrieking against his own industry reminds me of Sgt. Bergdahl whining about the Army after he was brought back for desertion.

    Ideally, President Trump will be the sumo wrestler the taxpayer needs to tackle and fling out of the ring Big Pharma.

    Wonder how many folks from Congress attended recent J.P. Morgan bash in SF? Between Wall Street and Big Pharma, they just spit in the eye of the taxpayer and laugh all the way up to the club floor of their hotels.

  • Not sure if it is genetic or learned, nature or nuture, but anyone in this industry that takes advantage of their niche monopoly to squeeze profits from anyone to prolong life has deluded themselves as much as their desparate customers delude themselves.
    No one lives forever. If you believe that’s it, one shot, make the most of it, grab as much respect for the buck then bankrupting fools like yourselves won’t get yo anything but disgust.
    If you believe otherwise you need a little education in empathy, sympathy, and compassion.

  • Wow. Well, maybe he can provide a constructive counter balance, but his own self-promoting grandiosity crushed him. On the other hand, there were tons of pharma execs at JP Morgan and Davos, spent literally thousands to mix and mingle in luxury, all the while running their companies with unbenefited contractors and draconian staff cutbacks. I welcome this admitted narcissist and social misfit as a contrarian blogger. Ultimately, the two fighting factions railing against each other just might lead to better pricing. One can only hope. And this dude knows about the skeletons big time.

  • how can i contact martin? I have a bunch of transgressions to add to this for big pharma. i think the best thing that could happen is for biotech to separate its message from big pharma. big pharma is too hated and too unethical and not innovative. JNJ is definitely one of the worst along with pfizer

  • It’s nice to hear a greedy shamed and demonized goat sell out the herd! The lies and denial of being a piece of garbage is delicious too! Let us not forget Shkreli’s two unforgettable unmentioned actions: buying a rap cd for a million bucks, and the statement that compared the price change decision to that of the same action if it were a bicycle business…. Million dollar Rap CDs are not research, and bicycles are not a survival necessity, medicine is. You’ll get our praise when you start really making up for who you were and what you did.

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