Team Imagine's Chairman raised a drug's price that combats infections in HIV paitents by 5000%

Bracken Thorn·Sep 22, 2015·7 votes·1,166 views

Drug Goes From $13.50 a Tablet to $750, Overnight

Martin "Cerebral" Shkreli is the chairman for Team Imagine. He's had some issues with his previous company.

> In 2011, Martin Shkreli...attracted some acclaim when he started his own biotech company, Retrophin, and began pursuing therapies for rare diseases. He served at the helm of Retrophin until last fall, when the company ousted him, later alleging that he improperly passed off legal settlements with MSMB investors as consulting agreements. Now Retrophin is taking the dispute with the controversial entrepreneur a step further. > > Retrophin filed a federal lawsuit against Shkreli on Monday in New York alleging that he created the biotech and took it public solely to provide stock to MSMB investors when the hedge fund became insolvent. [Forbes]

He also is the owner of Turing Pharmaceuticals which, in August, bought up the marketing rights for Daraprim, which combats infections in HIV patients. > Daraprim fights toxoplasmosis, the second most common food-borne disease, which can easily infect people whose immune systems have been weakened by AIDS, chemotherapy or even pregnancy, according to the Centers for Disease Control. [Tech Dirt]

The company then raised the price by over 5,000%, so that one pill, which used to be around $14 is now $750. If you read through the Tech Dirt article, or the New York Times article, or any of these other articles, you'll see that this is 1) not a good thing and 2) Martin Shkerli does not seem like the type of individual that meets a number of the standards Riot holds its team or players to. I would urge you to write to Riot & Team Imagine to ask Martin Shkreli to change Turing Pharmaceuticals' price change and help those in need need of affordable healthcare.

TLDR: Guy owns Team Imagine. Guys owns drug company. Raises important drug price by $5000. Ask him not to.

14 Comments

TBakesSep 23, 20154 votes

A company as large as Riot can absolutely choose who to do business with. It's just like if a rude guest comes to a restaurant and the owner kicks them out. Ain't nobody got time for that.

yay nibbersSep 23, 20152 votes

Riot indeed can absolutely choose who to do business with. They cannot however, say, ban someone and their team from the eSports scene for something that has nothing to do with it. Especially when they're already in it.

Not to mention eSports isn't exactly "doing business" with Shkreli or his companies. His eSports team has absolutely nothing to do with his unrelated pharmaceutical company. They're competitors in an event, not business partners with Riot. It's absolutely not Riot's place to 'punish' a team for their owner's apparent wrongdoings outside of LoL eSports, especially considering the guy isn't doing anything illegal. What Shkreli and his pharmaceutical company did has nothing to do with League of Legends or its eSports scene and should not be treated as such.

ModWulf HelhammerSep 22, 20152 votes

How does Riot have any control over what the guy does with anything other then the eSports team?

Bracken ThornSep 22, 20152 votes

They don't. That's obvious.

However, as a business partner, Riot can encourage a chairman of one of the eSports teams to change their business practices if their customers are unhappy with a business practice.

yay nibbersSep 23, 20151 votes

It's really none of Riot's business as a company what the eSports teams and their members do outside of League of Legends.

ShyvauniSep 23, 20151 votes

However RIOT can choose to abandon any association with said company nor do they have to allow said owner's team to compete.

yay nibbersSep 23, 20152 votes

I mean, yeah they could do that, assuming they aren't breaching any sort of contract they might have with the team in doing so. That said, they really shouldn't. It would be a gross abuse of their power as the LoL eSports owner and downright tyrannical. Banning an entire team just because their owner is a dickbag isn't fair to the rest of the team (Team Imagine has absolutely nothing to do with the drug company and their doings) and would frankly be rather immature and hurt their credibility as a company.

Again, it's not Riot's business what Shkreli does with his other companies and organizations. Banning him and his teams from League of Legends eSports to punish him for something completely unrelated is extremely unethical and it is absolutely not Riot's responisbility to punish him for his own drug company doing their greedy business.

ModWulf HelhammerSep 23, 20152 votes

Also it's probably illegal to ban the team like that

yay nibbersSep 23, 20151 votes

Assuming they have contracts (very likely), it definitely would be.

Blade of JusticSep 23, 20152 votes

As someone studying to enter into the medical field, pharmaceutical companies have always disgusted me. (If not at least rubbed me the wrong way)

That's why I've vowed to never work for one.

Bracken ThornSep 23, 20151 votes

Oh good: http://www.vox.com/2015/9/22/9375295/turing-daraprim-price-cut

CaptnRexSep 23, 20151 votes

hes still an asshole, he has made it clear he doesn't care if people can't afford it. Hes probably just saying that so a few weeks later after people forget about it he either hikes the price back up or never changes it to begin with.

Only Play DariusSep 23, 20151 votes

Gotta milk the poor and dying for every last dollar in their pocket am I right?

Business as usual I suppose. Which is why i'm studying engineering instead.

AnihakuSep 24, 20151 votes

Who says we need to ban his team? Like you said, they probably have nothing to do with it. I just see this as another opportunity to cash in. He just wants to make money.....lets be real.

Having said that.......I would hope there is something in the contract that could get his team ownership revoked. He is not someone who should be representing LOL as a team owner or in any fashion IMO.

He can play all he wants.....just shouldn't be a representative of pro scene.