Congress Boots Martin “the RX-Douche” Shkreli

Martin Shkreli, aka “the RX-Douche,” has been on my shit list since September. I first posted about this 32 year-old former CEO of Turing Pharmaceuticals after he brazenly hiked the price of the 62-year-old drug used to treat AIDS, Daraprim. Shkreli raised the price from $13.50 per tablet to $750. Then he demonstrated about as much remorse for the indiscriminate tampering around with drugs as Bill Cosby does.

I was happier when I posted the December update that Shkreli had been arrested for securities fraud. Maybe he will be able to trade his Wu Tang album to Big Vinny for protection when he is found guilty and sent up the river.

The public outcry over his price gouging reached Washington D.C. where he was called before Congress to testify on his actions. It didn’t go well.

In a testy exchange with lawmakers, Martin Shkreli declined to testify before a House committee on Thursday about his actions in increasing the price of a decades-old drug fiftyfold overnight.

Mr. Shkreli did answer “yes’’ when Representative Trey Gowdy, Republican of South Carolina, asked him if he had pronounced his name properly. ~NY Times

That was the only question he answered. On everything else, he pleaded the Fifth Amendment. When Rep. Gowdy attempted to ask follow up questions, as USA Today reports, Gowdy told Shkreli that he could testify on those matters without incriminating himself.

“I intend to follow the advice of counsel, not yours,” Shkreli told Gowdy.

He was then told to leave the chamber. If only the world could get rid of him that easily.

Tags: AIDS, Daraprim, HIV, hiv medication, living with HIV, Martin Shkreli, public outcry