Pharma

Martin Shkreli is livestreaming exactly how lame he is.

Turing Pharmaceuticals CEO Martin Shkreli, vilified for hiking up the pricing of the drug Daraprim, is back in the news - for livestreaming the day-to-day activities of his life. It is not so riveting.

We’ve known for a long time now that Martin Shkreli just needs to stop talking. Instead, we’re the ones that are speechless: His constant need to prolong his 15 minutes of widespread animosity (fame) is getting progressively more bizarre.

The pharma exec is widely reviled for hiking up the price of generic drug Daraprim some 5,000 percent – but now, he’s more concerned in sharing his personal life than his views on conducting business. Indeed, in the past week or so he’s broadcasted more than 80 hours of real-time video of his day-to-day activities, Stat News reports:

He told a STAT reporter — in a conversation that was, you guessed it, livestreamed — that he was indifferent about his company’s public image but wanted people to get to know him better.

Not many have taken him up on his repeated invitations to watch his life unfold online. Those who do see a spectacle that’s at once odd and utterly mundane. From both work and home, Shkreli stares at his computer screens. He plays with his hair. Sometimes he sips from a mug. Or banters with employees at his company, Turing Pharmaceuticals, as they sit in their 39th floor office of a building steps away from Times Square in New York City.

There’s no substance here. No broadening the conversation about drug pricing, no real moves to simply piss off the pharmaceutical masses with his business plans. Just some befuddling self-promotion.

A constant refrain from the Turing Pharmaceutical CEO – besides showing off that “swag” – is that once people get to know him, they find that he’s not as bad as they initially thought. But it’s no longer a matter of vilifying Shkreli, or being morbidly curious about his persona – now, it’s just a little sad. Honey Boo Boo hits Wall Street? You betcha.

In case you’re interested (we are not):

[Image compilation courtesy of Stat News]

 

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