Top Pharma Lobbyist Showers Praise on Biogen for Being Anti-Shkreli Like
The head of the pharmaceutical industry’s biggest Washington lobby group visited Boston on Tuesday as part of a public relations campaign aimed at countering criticism of high drug prices — and singled out Cambridge-based Biogen for praise.
During a question-and-answer session with reporters Tuesday, Stephen Ubl, the head of the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, spoke out against what he called a handful of “bad actors” — companies that purchase off-patent medicines that lack generic competition and then significantly raise the price. He cited Turing Pharmaceuticals, the biotech formerly run by Martin Shkreli, who sparked outrage in 2015 for hiking the price of a life-saving drug more than fifty-fold.
During a question-and-answer session with reporters Tuesday, Stephen Ubl, the head of the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, spoke out against what he called a handful of “bad actors” — companies that purchase off-patent medicines that lack generic competition and then significantly raise the price. He cited Turing Pharmaceuticals, the biotech formerly run by Martin Shkreli, who sparked outrage in 2015 for hiking the price of a life-saving drug more than fifty-fold.