Martin Shkreli, the former CEO of the billion dollar company Turing Pharmaceuticals, made an appearance on the University of Massachusetts Boston campus on Feb. 16. In recent years, the 33-year-old has become a controversial public figure, when in 2015 he raised the price of a drug called Daraprim, an antiparasitic treatment for HIV patients, from $13.50 to $750 per tablet. Turing is the only pharmaceutical company in the US that currently sells the treatment. Last year, Shkreli was also arrested by the FBI on charges of security fraud. He was released on a $5 million bail and is currently awaiting his trial.
On the day of his talk, protesters were gathering in the University Hall building before, during, and after Shkreli’s talk. Students who were demonstrating were shaking penny-filled pill bottles, shouting, “Hey, hey, ho, ho, Martin Shkreli has got to go” and “Shame on Shkreli” to express their opposition to the pharmaceutical executive being invited to UMass Boston. Protesters also carried a large posters with messages such as “Bring in the Capitalist Clowns.”
The organizers of the event were Young Americans for Liberty (YAL), a recently-approved on-campus chapter and libertarian student group that operates nationwide on a large number of campuses.
In an interview, Treasurer Marcelo Guadiana told the Mass Media that “we are speaking about restriction of speech that has been going on around college campuses. They like to generalize and say this person is a racist or fascist.” Guadiana further explained, “It’s a problem because you need to hear all sides of the argument. Fascism is restricting people’s rights it’s more in line with tyranny and that’s exactly what we’re against, we’re all for a voluntary society.”
Secretary of YAL George Falardeau also told the Mass Media, “The reason why we invited Mr. Shkreli to come is so that we can provide students who want to listen just maybe another perspective on economics or maybe politics.”
Falardeau said, “It seems like the people who have reviewed this, they’re all sort of getting mad at us because we seem to be promoting what he [Shkreli] wants to say and that’s not the case at all. We don’t endorse anything he says. We just feel that this will be an enriching learning experience.”
Shkreli’s invitation has stirred up much debate on campus and has evoked pushback from students and several clubs of the campus community. In a meeting, Joseph Gilmore, the President of the student-run club Students for Sensible Drug Policy (SSDP), told the Mass Media, “We believe healthcare is a human right.”
English Professor Joe Ramsey was one of the active voices expressing his concern regarding this event. “We should be challenging [Shkreli’s] idea of privatization,” Ramsey said.
On the day of Shkreli’s visit to UMass Boston, only around 100 students, faculty, staff, and reporters were given access and were able to see him close-up.
“I’ve received a great welcome here in Boston and I’d like to thank Campus Police,” Shkreli said in his opening statement. He followed by asking for someone from the audience who disagreed with him to “sit with him and have a one-on-one conversation” in front of the audience. UMass Boston student Mitchell was one of the people who came forward. He told Shkreli, “I’m not a huge fan,” and confronted the controversial entrepreneur with the question “Why do you believe it was the right thing for you to raise the prices?”
Shkreli explained that the price of Daraprim was never right. According to him, the drug had been priced at $13.50 for decades before his company Turing bought the drug. Now, Daraprim costs $20,000 per year. “If you think $20,000 is too much, look at every single other drug. Daraprim is a bargain at this price!” Shkreli then pointed to the data of other treatments that were more expensive. As an example, Shkreli pointed to Soliris, another drug used for treating rare diseases, that currently costs $500,000 per year.
“To answer your question, I thought it made sense to raise the price to a normal price, not an excessive price, and I did the math. No disrespect—I don’t think you guys do the math everyday like I do. This is my life. I made charts and graphs and said this is the right price for this medicine. It’s not too high, it’s not too low—it’s just right.”
Another university student asked how Shkreli can justify the price of the drug for people who can’t afford the drug at all, including people with health insurance. “Rare disease drugs cost a lot of money.” Shkreli explained. “Forget Daraprim, when you say “can’t afford the drug,” I just want to ask you to think about the half a million dollar drug. My drug is $20,000, you take 250 pills for forty days. $20,000… $500,000—that’s a lot more expensive than my drug,” Shkreli pointed out to the student.
While Shkreli tried to answer more serious questions by referencing charts and graphs, he also occasionally mentioned some more personal details about his life. “I just hope you guys get to know me a little better,” Shkreli said. Some students in the audience also showed a more positive attitude towards him, asking him for “rap battles” and to accept their friend request on Facebook.
“I love making money from selling these drugs but I also love making money saving people’s lives,” Shkreli said to a member of the audience.
However, in the second half of his talk, tension started to rise. Shkreli received a question from a student asking, “Do you care about people dying?”
“That’s why my drug saves people’s lives,” Shkreli responded. “You raised the price by 5,000 percent”, the student pointed out. The student kept questioning whether the price increase may not have been too drastic for just one tablet.
Shkreli appeared increasing annoyed and even said, “Were you listening? You might need some narcolepsy medicine.” When the student continued voicing her concern, Shkreli said, “If you’re in school, I regret that you are paying for this.” Later on, another student was even escorted out of the room after yelling “You’re a murderer!” Shkreli, however, kept defending the price of his drug.
English Professor Joe Ramsey was also among the audience members who openly questioned the ethical nature of Shkreli’s “price-jacking.” “People die because of the price hike. Have you done research on how many people have died as a result of your action?” Ramsay asked. Shkreli responded that healthcare is his expertise and insisted that Daraprim is still relatively cheap in comparison to others.
While the event concluded without any violence, there appeared to be a lot of confusion and disorganization ahead of Shkreli’s visit. According to a UMass Boston staffmember, the administration was not even aware that this well-known figure was invited when YAL requested space for the guest speaker. Reportedly, the YAL first requested a room that could only hold 30 thirty people, but sold 155 tickets. Furthermore, the space request was reportedly unclear to the administration, as it was titled, “Thoughts of an entrepreneur.”
“The Campus Center needed to ask for more specificity, so they did”, an Undergraduate Student Government member told the Mass Media.
The USG called a meeting a day before Shkreli’s visit to discuss the issues regarding the organization of the event, especially public safety and funding. According to the policy, any larger event requires a request for security. During the USG meeting, YAL President Chris Bartley claimed that they had been unaware of this policy. Although campus security guards and UMass Boston police were in the end present on the day of the event, YAL members said during the meeting the day before that they had so far not come up with the necessary funds to pay them.
During the meeting, a member of the USG, visibly concerned, asked, “How were no funds discussed?” Another USG member also questioned whether Shkreli’s invite was only “efforts to create a political stunt.”
While members of the USG remained concerned about the planning of the event, Bartley went on to say that the YAL is next hoping to invite Governor Charlie Baker to speak at UMass Boston.
“We are open to all debate, that’s what we want we want, to create more discussion on college campuses,” Treasurer Marcelo said.