Collins, McCaskill Statement on Arrest of Martin Shkreli on Securities Fraud Charges

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) today issued the following statement after the arrest of Martin Shkreli this morning by federal agents on securities fraud charges. 

“Today’s development with Martin Shkreli will not affect the Senate Aging Committee’s bipartisan investigation into the sudden, aggressive price spikes of some decades-old drugs, which is not limited to one person or one company. As we have said from the beginning, these price spikes have raised questions that are critically important to the American public—and we will continue our investigation until we’ve found answers to those questions.”

Last month, Senators Collins and McCaskill announced a bipartisan Senate investigation into pharmaceutical drug pricing requesting documents and information from four pharmaceutical companies, including Shkreli’s Turing Pharmaceuticals. 

“We are proceeding with our investigation into the practices of the four pharmaceutical companies: Valeant Pharmaceuticals, Turing Pharmaceuticals, Retrophin Inc, and Rodelis Therapeutics.” 

That announcement was followed last week by the first in a series of hearing on this issue. That hearing provided insight into the causes of these sudden, aggressive price hikes on decades old drugs and the effect these egregious price increases have on patients’ access to medication. 

The Special Committee on Aging, led by Chairman Collins and Ranking Member McCaskill, promotes discussions and conducts investigations on areas of special interest to older Americans. 

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