Coverage: Shkreli “testifies” before Congress

Martin Shkreli, the now infamous ex-pharmaceutical executive, is not known for his silence, but he sat silent Thursday as Congressional members grilled him about his decision to hike drug prices while running Turning.

But in typical Shkreli fashion, he quickly took to Twitter to insult his questioners following the public hearing.

Nathan Bomey of USA Today covered Shkreli’s hearing:

Embattled drug entrepreneur Martin Shkreli — who vigorously defended his decision to hike the price of a life-saving drug from $13.50 to $750 — suddenly went silent Thursday at a Congressional committee, smirking and grinning instead of answering questions.

Now facing an unrelated federal criminal indictment, the typically loquacious Shkreli refused to testify, repeatedly citing his Fifth Amendment right not to incriminate himself.

Members of Congress launched into fiery lectures directed at Shkreli, whose previous company, Turing Pharmaceuticals, came under scrutiny when it raised the price of Daraprim more than 5,000%. The pill is used to treat toxoplasmosis, a parasitic disease that afflicts people with weakened immune systems, such as those with AIDS and pregnant women.

“Drug company executives are lining their pockets at the expense of some of the most vulnerable families in our nation,” U.S. Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Maryland, said. “It’s not funny, Mr. Shkreli. People are dying and they’re getting sicker and sicker.”

Carolyn Y. Johnson of The Washington Post explained the one question Shkreli actually answered:

Shkreli didn’t come willingly to Thursday’s hearing. He was compelled by a subpoena that he threatened to ignore and that his lawyers argued against vehemently.

Wearing a slim-cut black jacket, Shkreli sat at the end of a row of witnesses called before the committee with hands folded, fidgeting a bit and smiling uncomfortably at times — tics his attorney, Benjamin Brafman, called the “nervous energy” of the 32-year-old former hedge fund manager, not meant to show disrespect to any member of Congress.

Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) described Turing as a “Ponzi scheme” in his opening remarks, saying the research and development that Turing has claimed it is doing to justify its high prices is simply research on which new drugs it could acquire to raise their prices.

Shkreli smirked.

“It’s not funny, Mr. Shkreli. People are dying,” Cummings said.

One of the few questions he did answer, asked by Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.), was whether the congressman had pronounced Shkreli’s last name correctly.

When Gowdy told Shkreli he could answer questions without incriminating himself, since they would not bear on the securities fraud charges being brought against him in a separate matter, he said, “I intend to follow the advice of my counsel, not yours.”

Eventually, Shkreli was excused, trailed by a media scrum.

The hearing focused on two companies that drove up the price of drugs they didn’t invent — by more than 5,000 percent in the case of Daraprim. After Shkreli’s departure, the rest of the witnesses testified. Among them was Turing’s current chief commercial officer, Nancy Retzlaff. Howard Schiller, the interim chief executive of Valeant Pharmaceuticals International, another company that has been accused of operating more like a hedge fund than a drug company, appeared. Janet Woodcock, the director of the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research at the Food and Drug Administration, and Mark Merritt, the president of the Pharmaceutical Care Management Association, a trade group that represents pharmacy benefit companies, was also present.

Andrew Pollack and Emmarie Huetteman of The New York Times discussed the purpose of the hearing:

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen the committee treated with such contempt,” Representative John L. Mica, a Florida Republican, said after Mr. Shkreli was excused and left the hearing. Mr. Mica asked if Mr. Shkreli could be held in contempt of Congress. The committee chairman, Representative Jason Chaffetz, Republican of Utah, said he did not intend to do so.

The hearing, about drug prices, focused on the actions of Turing and another company, Valeant Pharmaceuticals International, which acquired the rights to decades-old drugs and increased their prices by huge amounts overnight.

Rising drug prices have spurred public outrage, provided grist for the presidential campaign and attracted the attention of various congressional committees.

The price increases by Turing and Valeant on obscure drugs account for little in terms of overall drug spending compared with smaller but still substantial increases made by other companies. But these particular increases seem to have spurred outrage even among Republicans, who in general have been less willing than Democrats to criticize the drug industry’s pricing practices.

Little of substance was discussed on what to do about the increases. Instead, lawmakers from both parties took turns berating Mr. Shkreli, Turing and Valeant with words like “scandal,” “disgusting” and “disgraceful.”