athenahealth CEO Jonathan Bush shared his opinions on former Turing Pharmaceuticals CEO Martin Shkreli's behavior both in Congress last week and his 5,000 percent drug price hike, telling CNBC while he thinks Mr. Shkreli isn't being respectful (and calls him a subtle expletive), Mr. Shkreli hasn't necessarily done anything wrong.
Mr. Bush said Mr. Shkreli's unfavorable characteristics should stay out of the policy discussions.
"It's got a very Soviet-like feel the way they're criminalizing that guy," Mr. Bush said on CNBC, according to Business Insider. "He's not the most charming guy I've ever seen in my life…I don't like the fact that now his jerkiness is becoming a matter of public policy. Same thing true on the payer side."
Mr. Shkreli came into notoriety when he first raised the price of a toxoplasmosis drug by 5,000 percent, and then later refused to lower the price.
Mr. Shkreli had a congressional hearing Thursday, during which he invoked the Fifth Amendment.
In the CNBC interview, host Carl Quintanilla asked Mr. Bush if he thought Mr. Shkreli's pricing structure was legitimate, according to the report.
"It would be easier if there were many buyers and not just one, because then some of the buyers could say, 'Hey...I'm not including you in my benefit,'" Mr. Bush said. "But when it becomes a mandate from the people, your negotiation power goes way down because this kid's got this invention, and he's like, 'Well do you want it or not?' If some people actually said 'not,' he would be forced to behave a little better. But since it's illegal for anyone to say 'not,' he gets to be a jerk."
Mr. Bush added that if the goal of a drug is to reduce the number of days a patient spends in the hospital, which saves the healthcare system money, one should "be able to charge whatever you want," according to the report. "That's a market."
More articles on Martin Shkreli:
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Martin Shkreli resigns as CEO of Turing Pharmaceuticals