Statement on Second Circuit Order Upholding “Pharma Bro” Martin Shkreli’s Lifetime Ban

Today, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit affirmed a district court ruling which ordered “Pharma Bro” Martin Shkreli to face a lifetime ban from participating in the pharmaceutical industry and found Shkreli liable for $64.6 million in disgorgement for his role in orchestrating an illegal anticompetitive scheme.

Bureau of Competition Director Henry Liu issued the following statement on the Second Circuit’s order:

“The Second Circuit’s decision is a win for consumers seeking affordable, lifesaving medication and clearly demonstrates that corporate executives will be held personally liable for anticompetitive actions that they help orchestrate. I want to congratulate FTC staff for their hard work on this case and I want to thank our state attorneys general partners for their dedication to this important matter.”

In January 2022, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York held that Shkreli organized an illegal anticompetitive scheme to perpetuate a monopoly for the life-saving drug Daraprim, the gold-standard treatment for a rare, potentially fatal parasitic infection known as toxoplasmosis. The Court imposed a lifetime ban against Shkreli participating in the pharmaceutical industry and found Shkreli liable for $64.6 million in disgorgement. The FTC and state enforcers initiated the case in January 2020 against Shkreli, another individual executive, and the companies they founded, Vyera Pharmaceuticals, LLC, and Phoenixus AG. The U.S. District Court found that the defendants’ anticompetitive scheme prevented generic competition and allowed them to protect their Daraprim price increase from $17.50 per tablet to $750 per tablet.