Pharmaceutical bro Martin Shkreli, who became the object of the internet’s scorn in 2015 when he jacked up the price of HIV medicine Daraprim while serving as CEO of Turing Pharmaceuticals, has been back in the headlines this last week.
Amazingly, this time around, it’s not because of any act of douchebaggery on his behalf – instead, he’s been doing the evening news circuit, commenting on pharmaceutical company Mylan, who are under fire for drastically raising the price of life-saving Epi-Pens.
A two-pack of the pens went for a wholesale price of $US56.64 in 2007 – since then, the price has jumped 544.77%, to an eye-watering $US365.16, leaving uninsured and under-insured patients in the US with high out-of-pocket costs.
Even Shkreli took the opportunity to pile on Mylan during a recent appearance on NBC News, telling the network:
“These guys are really vultures. What drives this company’s moral compass?”
After calling Mylan “vultures”, however, Shkreli has somewhat walked back his criticism, telling CBS that important medicine should be expensive, and arguing that their profit margin is actually not high enough.
With renewed media interest in Shkreli, Late Show host Stephen Colbert took the opportunity to roast him in an opening monologue, joking about the very serious medical complaint of douche allergies.
Douche allergies are no joke, y’all. #LSSC pic.twitter.com/CBGwNOAfKg
— The Late Show (@colbertlateshow) August 27, 2016
Shrkeli didn’t take too kindly to this, and cordially invited Colbert to maybe suck a dick:
Suck a dick? https://t.co/yA7DPvnRC4
— Martin Shkreli (@MartinShkreli) August 27, 2016
The Late Show host zinged right back:
Depends, how much are you marking them up? https://t.co/tWMc3aRvVy
— Stephen Colbert (@StephenAtHome) August 27, 2016
Well played, Stephen Colbert, well played.
Source: Uproxx.
Photo: Eduardo Munoz Alvarez / CBS Photo Archive / Getty.
