‘Pharma Bro’ Shkreli Fails to Lift Industry Ban During Appeal

Martin Shkreli is stuck with an injunction barring him from the industry that spawned his “Pharma Bro” nickname after he failed Monday to convince a federal judge in New York to put the ban on hold while he appeals.

Shkreli, the former CEO of Vyera Pharmaceuticals LLC who’s currently serving time in federal prison for securities fraud, didn’t show that a stay—or modification—of the injunction was warranted, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York said.

“With few exceptions, his motion relies upon prior arguments that have been considered and rejected, or on a crimped reading of the factual record,” Judge Denise Cote’s opinion said.

The Federal Trade Commission and seven states sued Shkreli and Vyera, formerly known as Turing Pharmaceuticals, in 2020. Cote in January imposed the industry ban and made Shkreli jointly and severally liable for $64.6 million in damages for monopolizing the market for Daraprim, a life-saving toxoplasmosis drug.

Shkreli didn’t show he’s likely to succeed in wiping out the injunction once the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit considers his case, Cote said. And he didn’t “identify any actual or imminent irreparable harm” he would suffer without a stay.

There’s also a “serious risk” that Shkreli would “reengage in anticompetitive conduct within the pharmaceutical industry” without the injunction in place, which could injure patients and health care professionals, according to the opinion.

Shkreli argued that the public could benefit from his future contributions to the pharmaceutical industry, but his “speculation” doesn’t “override the record developed at trial” that his participation in the industry wasn’t in the public interest, Cote said. “Nor does that record allow for optimism about any engagement with the industry that he may desire in the future.”

Shkreli represents himself after his lawyers, Duane Morris LLP, withdrew from representation earlier this month.

The case is FTC v. Shkreli, S.D.N.Y., No. 1:20-cv-00706, stay denied 4/25/22.