He would paint himself as a working man's hero, "I'm making insurers pay more so you can get your drugs cheaper", always avoiding the awkward questions of where the insurer's money came from and why premiums kept rising (note that I'm also not siding with insurers here, especially those who have implemented PBMs to leech money into their pockets). He basically treated the public as useful idiots who thought that insurance was paying more for their drugs out of ... charity? Goodwill? The money fairy?
Then there was also the fact that at least once (and to a slightly lesser extent, twice), he went to the FDA to block the approval of a new drug, arguing it shouldn't be on the market. Why?
Not because it was less effective than the market options - it had better results.
Not because it had more/worse side effects, complications and interactions - it had better results there too.
Not because it was prohibitive, or patenting or anything stifling to the market.
No, it was because Shkreli had recently purchased a manufacturer of one of those existing drugs and their portfolio, and had been in the process of ramping up his price gouging on that drug, i.e. "The FDA should block approval of this better drug because it limits my ability to profit from my 'worse' drug."
Regardless on your take about his antics, it seems clear the fraud prosecution had a lot more to do with his pharma antics than the government actually caring that much about how he paid back investors at prior companies, especially since to my knowledge none of his investors were going to the government with complaints. No one gave a shit about the guy until his (seemingly legal) pharma 'gouging' practices pissed off a huge segment of influential people.
I do unfortunately agree with that. But to this day I still see people who see him as some unsung hero, and the prosecution of him for one of many horrible acts was one that only doubled down on that vision.
He would paint himself as a working man's hero, "I'm making insurers pay more so you can get your drugs cheaper", always avoiding the awkward questions of where the insurer's money came from and why premiums kept rising (note that I'm also not siding with insurers here, especially those who have implemented PBMs to leech money into their pockets). He basically treated the public as useful idiots who thought that insurance was paying more for their drugs out of ... charity? Goodwill? The money fairy?
Then there was also the fact that at least once (and to a slightly lesser extent, twice), he went to the FDA to block the approval of a new drug, arguing it shouldn't be on the market. Why?
Not because it was less effective than the market options - it had better results.
Not because it had more/worse side effects, complications and interactions - it had better results there too.
Not because it was prohibitive, or patenting or anything stifling to the market.
No, it was because Shkreli had recently purchased a manufacturer of one of those existing drugs and their portfolio, and had been in the process of ramping up his price gouging on that drug, i.e. "The FDA should block approval of this better drug because it limits my ability to profit from my 'worse' drug."