(Adds tweet from Shkreli and lawmaker's reaction, statements
from lawyer, Valeant testimony)
By Sarah N. Lynch and David Ingram
WASHINGTON/NEW YORK, Feb 4 (Reuters) - Former drug executive
Martin Shkreli laughed off questions about drug prices and
tweeted that lawmakers were imbeciles on Thursday, when he
appeared at a U.S. congressional hearing against his will.
Shkreli, 32, sparked outrage last year among patients,
medical societies and Democratic presidential front-runner
Hillary Clinton after his company, Turing Pharmaceuticals,
raised the price of 62-year-old Daraprim by more than 5,000
percent to $750 a pill.
The lifesaving medicine, used to treat a parasitic
infection, once sold for $1 a pill.
At a hearing of the U.S. House Committee on Oversight and
Government Reform, Shkreli repeatedly invoked the Fifth
Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which says no person shall
be compelled in any criminal case "to be a witness against
himself."
Wearing a sport jacket and collared shirt rather than his
usual T-shirt, he responded to questions by laughing, twirling a
pencil and yawning.
Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz, a Utah Republican, asked
Shkreli what he would tell a single, pregnant woman with AIDS
who needed Daraprim to survive, and whether he thought he had
done anything wrong. Shkreli declined to answer.
"I intend to follow the advice of my counsel, not yours,"
said Shkreli after South Carolina Republican Representative Trey
Gowdy suggested he could answer questions that were unrelated to
pending fraud charges against him.
After the hearing, Shkreli's lawyer, Benjamin Brafman,
attributed his client's behavior to "nervous energy."
Later, though, Shkreli wrote on Twitter: "Hard to accept
that these imbeciles represent the people in our government."
U.S. Representative Elijah Cummings, who learned about the
tweet while Turing Chief Commercial Officer Nancy Retzlaff was
testifying, pounded his fist on the dais. The Maryland Democrat
then shouted about an internal Turing document in which a
staffer joked about the price increase.
"You all spent all of your time strategizing about how to
hide your price increase ... and coming up with stupid jokes
while other people were sitting there trying to figure out how
they were doing to survive," Cummings said.
Shkreli was arrested in December and charged with running
his investment funds and companies almost like a Ponzi scheme.
He has pleaded not guilty to the fraud charges, which are not
related to the pricing of Daraprim. He also stepped down from
Turing and was fired from KaloBios Pharmaceuticals Inc
KBIOQ.PK .
Cummings pleaded with Shkreli to reconsider his views about
drug pricing: "You can go down as the poster boy for greedy drug
company executives, or you can change the system."
At one point, Brafman asked to address the committee, but
Chaffetz said no.
Shkreli was allowed to leave the hearing early after he
repeated that he would not answer any questions.
'SUCH CONTEMPT'
Representative John Mica, a Florida Republican, said he
would consider asking fellow lawmakers to hold Shkreli in
contempt for his behavior.
"I don't think I've ever seen the committee treated with
such contempt," Mica said.
Brafman said Shkreli would have liked to discuss drug
pricing but had no choice, given the criminal charges against
him.
Also at the hearing, Valeant Pharmaceuticals (N:VRX) Inc VRX.TO
interim CEO Howard Schiller put forward a conciliatory face,
testifying that his company had changed its business and pricing
tactics.
"Where we have made mistakes, we are listening and
changing," Schiller said during opening remarks. "In a number of
cases, we have been too aggressive" about price increases.
Valeant shares rose more than 5 percent during the hearing.
Retzlaff testified that Turing acquired Daraprim because it
was "priced far below its market value" and is committed to
investing revenue into new treatments.
The Federal Trade Commission and the New York attorney
general are investigating Turing for possible antitrust
violations.