Earlier this week news broke that Turing Pharmaceuticals, the company responsible for producing the the drug Daraprim, which helps with the treatment of AIDS and cancer, would be see its price raised from $13.50 to $750 per pill. The news of this 5,000 percent price increase drew ire from all corners of the internet, but over the past couple days more information about Turing’s founder and CEO Martin Shkreli has come to light.
Bullett Media first reported on Shkreli’s love of pop-punk and emo, which very quickly led to him being lampooned and turned into a meme by members of the respective communities. But that wasn’t all that that Bullett uncovered. It turns out that Shkreli was a silent partner in the label Collect Records, run by former Thursday frontman Geoff Rickly and Texas Is The Reason guitarist Norman Brannon. After this news broke, many of the bands on Collect began speaking out against Shkreli, and stating that if he continued to be involved with the label, the bands certainly wouldn’t be.
Yesterday, Noisey spoke with Rickly about Shkreli’s involvement and his reaction to the news. At the time, Rickly claimed he was still processing the news, but now he’s publicly stated that Collect will be severing ties with Shkreli effective immediately. The full statement can be read below, which explains how the label was blindsided by the news of Shkreli’s price hike of Daraprim, and how the decidedly anti-capitalist Rickly could no longer, in good conscience, do business with him. For his part, Shkreli and Turing have agreed to lower the price of Daraprim, though what that final price will be remains unknown.
Today, Collect Records — with the support and encouragement of all of our artists — have agreed to fully sever our relationship with Martin Shkreli, effective immediately.