US: Former drug exec goes silent at medicine prices hearing
  • 8 years ago
A former pharmaceuticals chief, who hiked the price of a life-saving medicine by more than five thousand percent, has refused to testify in front of lawmakers.

Martin Shkreli, who used to head up Turing Pharmaceuticals, used a Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination, as he was questioned by a House of Representatives committee.

“On the advice of counsel, I invoke my Fifth Amendment privilege against incrimination and respectfully decline to answer your question,” said Shkreli.

After brushing off questions, the 32-year-old then tweeted that lawmakers were “imbeciles.”

Hard to accept that these imbeciles represent the people in our government.— Martin Shkreli (@MartinShkreli) February 4, 2016

Shkreli sparked outrage last year when he acquired Turing Pharmaceuticals and raised the price of the drug Daraprim to 750 US dollars (670 euros) a pill.

The medicine, used to treat a parasitic infection, once sold for one dollar (less than one euro) a pill and has been on t
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