Actually, we know Martin Shkreli, CEO of KaloBios Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: KBIO), all too well. The brash young man was arrested by the Federal Bureau of Investigations yesterday in Manhattan, on charges of fraud relating to his days at a hedge. Just weeks before, as then-CEO of privately held Turing Pharmaceuticals, he became the poster child of drug price gougers, having boosted the price of a long-marketed generic drug by 5000%, from $13.50 per pill to $750. The revelations in a New York Times story brought swift recriminations from all sides, including presidential candidates.
The most striking note for us, as health care database wonks, is that Shkreli launched his first biotech company exactly three years ago today, on December 18, 2012. That’s when he took Retrophin, Inc. (NASDAQ: RTRX) public through a reverse merger with Desert Gateway, Inc. (OTCQB: RTRX) of Bartlesville, Oklahoma. At the time, Retrophin was focused on developing its lead compound, RE-021 (formerly known as DARA), for the treatment of focal segmental glomerulosclerosis, a rare disease that attacks the kidney’s filtering system. Retrophin went on to acquire Kyalin Biosciences, Inc. for an undisclosed price in December 2013, and then Manchester Pharmaceuticals LLC for $29.5 million in February 2014.
Yesterday’s news isn’t great for KaloBios, but it’s worse for Shkreli. We can only hope.
