Rich people are a public health emergency

But maybe Martin Shkreli will get some jail time to go with his jail time (NYT link if you’re counting free articles.)

Martin Shkreli, a former pharmaceutical executive serving a seven-year prison sentence for defrauding investors, was accused on Monday of trying to maintain a monopoly over the lifesaving drug Daraprim through anticompetitive tactics.

More likely he’ll be pardoned and become the next Acting Commissioner of the FDA.

The Federal Trade Commission and the office of the New York attorney general, Letitia James, jointly sued Vyera Pharmaceuticals and the company’s owners, Mr. Shkreli and Kevin Mulleady, in a federal court in Manhattan. They say Vyera and its leaders had an “elaborate and anticompetitive scheme” that blocked generics from entering the market after the company jacked up prices of Daraprim. The drug is used to treat toxoplasmosis, a rare, potentially fatal parasitic infection.
[…]
In their suit, the F.T.C. and New York attorney general say that soon after Vyera bought the rights to Daraprim in August 2015, it raised the price per tablet to $750 from less than $20, knowing the increase would attract generic competition. Before Vyera’s purchase of Daraprim, the drug had been accessible and affordable for decades. Daraprim is the only drug approved by the Federal Drug Administration to fight toxoplasmosis, which can kill people who have compromised immune systems, including babies and H.I.V. patients.