Democratic presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders has turned away the political donation of drug company CEO Martin Shkreli.
Shkreli, a 32-year old American hedgefund manager and entrepeure, had contributed the maximum $2,700 individual donor contribution to Sanders’ campaign in hopes of getting a meeting with the Vermont senator after coming under fire last month for raising the price of a pharmaceutical pill from $13.50 to $750 per pill.
Shkreli, who had become the public face of increasing drug prices, said that he had donated in hopes of getting Sanders’ attention for a meeting. Sanders, throughout his campaign, has championed for lower drug prices and allowing people to import cheaper prescription drugs from Canada, even going as far as saying “I would lump Wall Street and the pharmaceutical industry at the top of my list of people who do not like me” during the first Democratic presidential debate.
Instead of granting Shkreli an audience, the Sanders campaign has chosen to donate $2,700 to Whitman-Walker Health, a Washington D.C.-based clinic specializing in treating HIV patients and the LGBT community, reported the Boston Globe.
“We are not keeping the money from this poster boy for drug company greed,” said Michael Briggs, the spokesman for Sanders’ campaign.
Shkreli was evidently miffed by Sanders’ decision, as he lashed out against Sanders in interviews and also took to Twitter to complain.
“I think it’s cheap to use one person’s action as a platform without kind of talking to that person,” Shkreli said in the interview. “He’ll take my money, but he won’t engage with me for five minutes to understand this issue better.”
https://twitter.com/MartinShkreli/status/655067740038955008?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
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