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Eugene

(61,595 posts)
Fri Jan 22, 2016, 04:41 PM Jan 2016

FTC probes Turing over drug prices, Shkreli's lawyer says

Source: Reuters

Business News | Fri Jan 22, 2016 1:53pm EST

Exclusive: FTC probes Turing over drug prices, Shkreli's lawyer says

NEW YORK | BY NATE RAYMOND

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission is investigating Turing Pharmaceuticals for possible antitrust violations in connection with the company's decision to hike the price of a life-saving drug by more than 5,000 percent, a lawyer for former Chief Executive Martin Shkreli wrote on Friday.

The probe was disclosed in a letter to the U.S. House of Representatives' Committee on Oversight and Government Reform from Baruch Weiss, Shkreli's lawyer, as grounds for why his client would not answer questions about drug prices at a Jan. 26 hearing.

The committee had subpoenaed Shkreli, who has been indicted separately on securities fraud charges, to appear to discuss why, as Turing's CEO, he decided to raise the price of Daraprim to $750 a tablet from $13.50.

The drug, which was acquired by the company, is used to treat toxoplasmosis, a parasitic infection especially dangerous to AIDS patients and others with compromised immune systems.

In a letter seen by Reuters, Weiss said Shkreli would "gladly cooperate" with the committee and produce documents if it granted immunity to the controversial 32-year-old former drug executive.

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Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-crime-shkreli-idUSKCN0V026V
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