Man buys HIV drug supply and the price goes up through the roof

[TheUnknown]

So...believe it or not, this assnozzle has acquired a defender!

Want to take any guesses who they are, or at least where they work?

(click to show/hide)

If you guessed "Eric Bolling" at "Fox News of fucking course"  you win!

While the rest of the world hates on Martin Shkreli, the “pharma bro” who jacked up the price of an AIDS drug from $13.50 to $750 a tablet, to Fox host Eric Bolling, Shkreli is just a savvy businessman.

ERIC BOLLING: Now I say be careful before you call for this guy’s head. It’s the free market that provides the profit motive that entices drug companies to risk their own money to discover cures for diseases. Now think about this for one second. God help us if we left that to the government.

That drug already went off patent and he picked it up, it was cheap, and he raised the price. If it’s so valuable someone else will come in and compete.

I swear, it's like Fox Noise isn't even trying to not be cartoonishly evil anymore.  And they obviously decided the only way to be more cartoonishly evil than Martin Shkreli is to defend him

I think Bolling's defense is hilarious considering the first article posted in this thread had a commenter trying to explain that "this isn't the fault of capitalism, just bad patent laws".  So we have people trying to either deny this as a horrible product of capitalism in order to defend capitalism, or admitting that it's a natural product of capitalism but it's not that bad because it'll resolve itself in order to defend capitalism.

[The_Queen]

Others might want him to suffer. I'm not like that. When someone pisses me off to the point that I wish for their death, I just want them dead. Oxygen is a precious resource and too valuable to waste on bags of filth like that.

Personally, I'd take it one step further. Jail him, ban him from ever working in finance, whatever it takes to make him irrelevant. Once that's done, ignore the guy and fix the system that allowed this to happen in the first place. Otherwise, cathartic as it may be to focus on righteous vengeance, it'll just be a matter of time before another fund manager figures out that holding life-saving medicine to ransom is a great way to make a quick buck and we'll be right back to square one.

Art is right. All this thread is becoming is how to brutally torture this jerk. Fact is, we live in a country where not only hedgefund managers do this to us, but hospitals, insurance companies, doctors, really our whole health care sector save Medicare/Medicaid who are too busy getting fleeced. While thinking of deranged and inhumane methods of torture is prudent, fact is he is a cog of a larger flawed system. He simply lacked the suave and finesse of other health care actors, and went for the large price hike all at once. As much hate as this guy is getting, he isn't the problem, nor is he the biggest problem in this area: he just wasn't smart enough to get away with it.

[nickiknack]

I've come across a few LOLibertarians on FB defending the douche, by saying shit like "It will only effect a few people" and/or "the company has said they're give a discount to poor people, which ignores the fact that this is still not only a dick move, but it highlights how shittastic the US Healthcare system still is.

[Even Then]

"yeah some people might die of AIDS solely because this spunkrag wanted a few more million dollars, but there aren't enough of them for me to give a shit"

[Askold]

I've seen a few people claim that this only happened because "government interferes with business" and if the Gov and insurance companies didn't interfere there wouldn't be a need to jack up the prices. (Which is the complete opposite. With completely free market there would not be any need to ask for less than the absolutely highest price you think you can get away with.)

Apparently the way to fix this is to get the government out of medicine business and let free market magically fix everything.

...Yeah, no.

[I am lizard]

"yeah some people might die of AIDS solely because this spunkrag wanted a few more million dollars, but there aren't enough of them for me to give a shit"

As long as I get a steady supply of tea and rubber I don't care.

[Barbarella]

Others might want him to suffer. I'm not like that. When someone pisses me off to the point that I wish for their death, I just want them dead. Oxygen is a precious resource and too valuable to waste on bags of filth like that.

Personally, I'd take it one step further. Jail him, ban him from ever working in finance, whatever it takes to make him irrelevant. Once that's done, ignore the guy and fix the system that allowed this to happen in the first place. Otherwise, cathartic as it may be to focus on righteous vengeance, it'll just be a matter of time before another fund manager figures out that holding life-saving medicine to ransom is a great way to make a quick buck and we'll be right back to square one.

You're right.

We're just indulging in revenge fantasies....we know torture and cannibalism is stupid....but we're having fun with creative imaginary punishments to let off steam.



Sort-of in the vein of Dr. Weird's post,

There's an unexpected detractor of this Hedgefund DoucheBro who thinks that kid is a scum-sucker.

You'll never guess who he is, either (and it's someone you really wouldn't expect, unlike that other guy)!.....

(click to show/hide)

IT'S TRUMPY!....

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/donald-trump-blasts-martin-shrekli-over-hiv-drug-hike-that-guy-is-nothing-hes-zero-he-ought-to-be-10515200.html

You know what they say...."Even Evil Has Standards"!

[guizonde]

Others might want him to suffer. I'm not like that. When someone pisses me off to the point that I wish for their death, I just want them dead. Oxygen is a precious resource and too valuable to waste on bags of filth like that.

Personally, I'd take it one step further. Jail him, ban him from ever working in finance, whatever it takes to make him irrelevant. Once that's done, ignore the guy and fix the system that allowed this to happen in the first place. Otherwise, cathartic as it may be to focus on righteous vengeance, it'll just be a matter of time before another fund manager figures out that holding life-saving medicine to ransom is a great way to make a quick buck and we'll be right back to square one.

You're right.

We're just indulging in revenge fantasies....we know torture and cannibalism is stupid....but we're having fun with creative imaginary punishments to let off steam.

it is? stupid, i mean. i thought it was amoral.

[Ultimate Paragon]

Others might want him to suffer. I'm not like that. When someone pisses me off to the point that I wish for their death, I just want them dead. Oxygen is a precious resource and too valuable to waste on bags of filth like that.

Personally, I'd take it one step further. Jail him, ban him from ever working in finance, whatever it takes to make him irrelevant. Once that's done, ignore the guy and fix the system that allowed this to happen in the first place. Otherwise, cathartic as it may be to focus on righteous vengeance, it'll just be a matter of time before another fund manager figures out that holding life-saving medicine to ransom is a great way to make a quick buck and we'll be right back to square one.

You're right.

We're just indulging in revenge fantasies....we know torture and cannibalism is stupid....but we're having fun with creative imaginary punishments to let off steam.



Sort-of in the vein of Dr. Weird's post,

There's an unexpected detractor of this Hedgefund DoucheBro who thinks that kid is a scum-sucker.

You'll never guess who he is, either (and it's someone you really wouldn't expect, unlike that other guy)!.....

(click to show/hide)

IT'S TRUMPY!....

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/donald-trump-blasts-martin-shrekli-over-hiv-drug-hike-that-guy-is-nothing-hes-zero-he-ought-to-be-10515200.html

You know what they say...."Even Evil Has Standards"!

I'd say he's more abrasive and delusional than outright evil, but yeah, when The Donald has legitimate reason to think you're a scumbag, you know you're an awful excuse for a human being.

[Barbarella]

Others might want him to suffer. I'm not like that. When someone pisses me off to the point that I wish for their death, I just want them dead. Oxygen is a precious resource and too valuable to waste on bags of filth like that.

Personally, I'd take it one step further. Jail him, ban him from ever working in finance, whatever it takes to make him irrelevant. Once that's done, ignore the guy and fix the system that allowed this to happen in the first place. Otherwise, cathartic as it may be to focus on righteous vengeance, it'll just be a matter of time before another fund manager figures out that holding life-saving medicine to ransom is a great way to make a quick buck and we'll be right back to square one.

You're right.

We're just indulging in revenge fantasies....we know torture and cannibalism is stupid....but we're having fun with creative imaginary punishments to let off steam.



Sort-of in the vein of Dr. Weird's post,

There's an unexpected detractor of this Hedgefund DoucheBro who thinks that kid is a scum-sucker.

You'll never guess who he is, either (and it's someone you really wouldn't expect, unlike that other guy)!.....

(click to show/hide)

IT'S TRUMPY!....

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/donald-trump-blasts-martin-shrekli-over-hiv-drug-hike-that-guy-is-nothing-hes-zero-he-ought-to-be-10515200.html

You know what they say...."Even Evil Has Standards"!

I'd say he's more abrasive and delusional than outright evil, but yeah, when The Donald has legitimate reason to think you're a scumbag, you know you're an awful excuse for a human being.

[Sigmaleph]

I've seen a few people claim that this only happened because "government interferes with business" and if the Gov and insurance companies didn't interfere there wouldn't be a need to jack up the prices. (Which is the complete opposite. With completely free market there would not be any need to ask for less than the absolutely highest price you think you can get away with.)

Well, no. In a completely free market there'd be other people making pyrimethamine and selling it cheaper than this asshole, because why wouldn't they? Making the stuff is cheap, sell it cheaper than him and you can capture the market.

The reason that doesn't happen in the not-completely-free market is that it's expensive to get the FDA to let you sell your own drugs. For good reasons! But still.

This is not the free market's fault, because this isn't a free market (and shouldn't be). This is mostly Martin Shkreli's fault, plus some blame left over for the system that sets up the incentives this way.

[I am lizard]

I've seen a few people claim that this only happened because "government interferes with business" and if the Gov and insurance companies didn't interfere there wouldn't be a need to jack up the prices. (Which is the complete opposite. With completely free market there would not be any need to ask for less than the absolutely highest price you think you can get away with.)

Well, no. In a completely free market there'd be other people making pyrimethamine and selling it cheaper than this asshole, because why wouldn't they? Making the stuff is cheap, sell it cheaper than him and you can capture the market.

The reason that doesn't happen in the not-completely-free market is that it's expensive to get the FDA to let you sell your own drugs. For good reasons! But still.

This is not the free market's fault, because this isn't a free market (and shouldn't be). This is mostly Martin Shkreli's fault, plus some blame left over for the system that sets up the incentives this way.

Or a mega corparation could just buy up all the means of manufacturing the drug and create a monopoly.

[Sigmaleph]

I'm not sure that applies here. You can't buy all the labs in the world.

(also, worth pointing out, according to Vox, the reasons nobody is undercutting Shkreli is because the market is small enough it's too risky to try)

[MadCatTLX]

I'm not sure that applies here. You can't buy all the labs in the world.

(also, worth pointing out, according to Vox, the reasons nobody is undercutting Shkreli is because the market is small enough it's too risky to try)

A week late on my part to post this, but yes, there was no patent on this drug from what I here. It's just that no one else wanted to make it because there was a tiny market. Arguably fuckwit here created a market to sell it at an increased price, albeit far less than he did.

It's a bit of a moot point to post now, but I love what someone else said on the matter (Paraphrased): "Good thing he didn't do something to piss people off enough to want him dead. It's not like there's anyone who would both hate him and have nothing to lose. Like maybe someone with a terminal illness who can't afford the medicine they need, because of his actions, and will soon be dead anyway."

[Barbarella]

There should be a funny little flash game called "Punch The Pharma DoucheBro".