‘Punch me in the face, for charity’: Pharma bad boy’s tempting offer

FOR sale: The chance to punch the smirk off cancer drug price-gouger Martin Shkreli’s face. Surprisingly, it’s all for a good cause.

FOR sale: The chance to punch bad-boy pharmaceutical industry price-gouging and drug mark-up merchant Martin Shkreli in the face.

Just the once. So make it a good one.

The former hedge fund manager drew international ire when he bought a drug used to treat HIV and cancer patients and jacked up the price from $13.50 to $750 a tablet.

The 33-year-old former CEO of drug companies Retrophin and Turing Pharmaceuticals has since added to his punchability by being indicted for securities fraud.

His move to make his hateability pay is to help a six-year-old boy whose father died recently, and who has just finished chemotherapy for cancer.

Tyler is the son of Shkreli’s close mate and former public relations manager Mike Kulich, who died last weekend, aged just 29.

I will auction one slap/punch in the face to benefit my friend Mike who passed away & leaves behind a young son who survived cancer. DM bids

— Martin Shkreli (@MartinShkreli) September 26, 2016

Shkreli announced his intentions via Twitter with a post: “I will auction one/slap punch in the face to benefit my friend Mike who passed away and leaves behind a young son who survived cancer. DM bids”.

And as the idea took off, he wasn’t shy about naming prices and engaging with critics asking him why he didn’t use his own cash to help Tyler out, saying he’d match the donations, but, ever the businessman “to a certain point”.

I'll match donation to a certain point. You may video the slap/punch. Mike architected my publicity stunts & I bet he is watching, smiling. https://t.co/kqnvQtJ10T

— Martin Shkreli (@MartinShkreli) September 26, 2016

Katie will be permitted to "repeatedly pummel me in the face" as requested. Bidding is over. Congrats to her and the Kulichs! @like_ether_

— Martin Shkreli (@MartinShkreli) September 28, 2016

Reaction on Twitter was swift, and predictably brutal, with bidding for a punch quickly reaching $78,000 and a slap $25,500.

The punch plans were dealt a glancing blow when he tried to sell the offer on eBay, but the site pulled the listing.

But by the time the offer had made national US news broadcasts, he had decided people could decide between a dinner date with him or the original punch in the face.

Eventually Twitter user @like_ether_ (aka Kate from Florida) won the right to punch him in the face with an offer of $50,000. A sum that Shkreli says he will match.

“Katie will be permitted to ‘repeatedly pummel me in the face’ as requested. Bidding is over. Congrats to her and the Kulich’s” Shkreli tweeted.

But it appears the offer of a date with Shkreli has created limited interest.

FILE - In this Feb. 4, 2016 file photo, Pharmaceutical chief Martin Shkreli smiles on Capitol Hill in Washington during the House Committee on Oversight and Reform Committee hearing on his former company's decision to raise the price of a lifesaving medicine. Shkreli announced on Twitter Sept. 26, 2016, that he would offer up a chance to punch him in the face as part of a fundraiser for the son of his former PR consultant, who recently died. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File)

Originally published as ‘Punch me in the face, for charity’: Pharma bad boy’s tempting offer