Bernie Sanders Rejects Pharma CEO’s Donation

The left-leaning U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders rejected a campaign donation from the head of the Turing Pharmaceuticals because they increased the price of an AIDS ad cancer drug by nearly 5,000 percent, according to a Thursday report by RT.

Sanders has repeatedly declared that he doesn’t accept funding of this kind and that his campaign is supported mostly by small-dollar donations made online.

According to The Boston Globe, Michael Briggs, Sanders’ campaign spokesman, said, “We’re not keeping the money from this poster boy for drug company greed”.

Martin Shkreli is pictured in a photo from what appeared to be his Twitter account. “We don’t want his stinkin’ money”.

Instead, Briggs said, the $2,700 Shkreli donated – the maximum individual donation allowed under electoral guidelines – will be given to the Whitman-Walker health clinic in Washington.

Shkreli said he had wanted to talk to the presidential candidate about drug prices.

At the first Democratic primary debate on Tuesday, Sanders said he is proud of being tough on the pharmaceutical industry.

Shkreli sparked outrage last month after the New York Times reported that his company had obtained the rights to sell the 62-year-old drug Daraprim and hiked up its price virtually overnight.

In response to the backlash, Shkreli told the New York Times that the price hike was meant to fund the research and development of new drugs, however critics have been skeptical of his claims.

Last month Martin Shkreli, the founder and chief executive of Turing Pharmaceuticals, raised the cost of a life-saving treatment for people with HIV and weakened immune systems from $13.50 per pill to $750. The next day, Sanders, in his capacity as a ranking member of the House Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, sent Shkreli a letter informing him that his company and the sudden price increase were under investigation and requesting that certain documents and information be turned over by October 9th.

After a public outcry, Shkreli promised “to lower the price of Daraprim to a point that is more affordable”, but, according to CNBC, there has been no change in price.