FTC, NY Attorney General Go After Martin Shkreli Over Daraprim

New York Attorney General Letitia James and the Federal Trade Commission filed suit against Martin Shkreli and Vyera Pharmaceuticals for an “elaborate anticompetitive scheme” to monopolize toxoplasmosis treatment Daraprim (pyrimethamine).

Shkreli — which is currently serving a 7-year prison sentence for securities fraud — and Vyera were accused of hiking the list price for Daraprim, and then illegally restricting generic competition for the drug. Shkreli, along with his business partner Kevin Mulleady, are accused of directly orchestrating the scheme.

The complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York alleges as soon as Vyrea bought Daraprim in August 2015, it raised the list price by 4,000 percent from $17.50 to $750 per tablet. The price hike led the New York AG’s office to investigate Shkreli, Vyrea, and Mulleady.