This is what it’s like to be screwed by Martin Shkreli

PATRICK Rice understands the venom directed at ‘the most hated man in America’ Martin Shkreli. He relies on the price hiked drug Daraprim for survival.

Former Turing Pharmaceuticals CEO Martin Shkreli leaves court with his lawyer.

MARTIN Shkreli become the ‘most hated man in America’ last year when his pharmaceutical company hiked up the prices of drugs commonly used by cancer and HIV patients.

The price of Daraprim went from $US13.50 ($18.83) a pill to $US750 ($1045) last September when Turing Pharmaceuticals bought the 60-year-old medication for $76 million.

Since then, Mr Shkreli has been arrested for securities fraud, quit as CEO of Turing and is out on bail, facing 20 years in prison.

Patrick Rice can understand the venom directed at Mr Shkreli.

He’s one of the 2000 Americans who rely on Daraprim for their health and survival.

Mr Rice, a 32-year-old software developer in Indiana who suffers from Lyme disease, shares his story with The New York Post’s Dana Schuster.

PATRICK’S STORY

Earlier this autumn, I got a call from a specialty pharmacy in Michigan.

My insurance would no longer cover the cost of Daraprim, a vital medicine in my Lyme disease treatment. They said the drugs would cost me $US30,000 ($41,800).

“Thirty thousand dollars a year?” I asked, flabbergasted.

“No, $30,000 a month,” they responded.

To make matters worse, Martin Shkreli — a bombastic pharmaceutical honcho who recently paid $US2 million ($2.8 million) for an unreleased Wu-Tang Clan album — was the man behind the lifesaving drug’s ridiculous price hike.

When I first started taking Daraprim in 2012, the drug cost $US1 ($1.39) a pill. Over the years, the price jumped to $US13.50 ($18.83) ... and there was no generic version available. Insurance covered it.

Picture from the Twitter account of Martin Shkreli, CEO of Turing Pharmaceuticals AG. Shkreli's company Turing Pharmaceuticals has purchased the rights to the drug Daraprim and increased it's price by over 5000%. Daraprim treats toxoplasmois, an opportunistic parasitic infection that can cause serious life-threatening conditions in people with compromised immune systems

It was one of six medicines prescribed to me by an infectious disease specialist, who finally diagnosed me with Lyme disease in 2011 after more than a decade of debilitating symptoms that included hallucinations and loss of speech.

I took two tablets of Daraprim daily for two weeks on, two weeks off and noticed a difference right away. I started feeling healthier, more energised. Daraprim was a godsend.

Last year, my doctor took me off Daraprim, but my health immediately declined. When I was represcribed the medicine, the cost increased 5000 per cent.

And the guy to blame for this mess was Shkreli, who valued money more than suffering people. Just looking at the way he carried himself as he tried to justify the cost disgusted me.

Former Turing Pharmaceuticals CEO Martin Shkreli, center, leaves court with his lawyer Benjamin Brafman, left, Wednesday, Feb. 3, 2016, in New York. Shkreli, who has become the poster child of pharmaceutical-industry greed after hiking the price of an anti-infection drug by more than 5,000 percent, is scheduled to appear at a congressional hearing on Thursday. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

Martin went on TV and said no one would miss the drug who couldn’t afford it. But my pharmacist said I could only apply for three months worth of free pills. So when I saw that Martin was doing an Ask Me Anything forum on Reddit in October, I told him my story. Surprisingly, his account manager followed up and said I would get the drug for free, for life.

While I was thrilled, I wasn’t satisfied. I was lucky enough — and bold enough — to question Shkreli directly. But most people suffering from HIV and malaria don’t have that ability.

Picture from the Twitter account of Martin Shkreli, CEO of Turing Pharmaceuticals AG. Shkreli's company Turing Pharmaceuticals has purchased the rights to the drug Daraprim and increased it's price by over 5000%. Daraprim treats toxoplasmois, an opportunistic parasitic infection that can cause serious life-threatening conditions in people with compromised immune systems

PRICE DROP ANNOUNCED

In late November, Turing announced that the price of the drug would drop to $US375 ($523) a pill — but at hospitals only. The company said individuals earning $US59,400 ($82,874) or less would be eligible to receive Daraprim at no cost, and most patients should be able to get it for a $US10 ($13.95) copay.

But according to a January Vice magazine profile on Shkreli, the process to access the drug for free is too complicated for very sick patients.

(A Turing rep told The Post: “We would be happy to work with any individual in understanding which program may be right for him or her.”)

Regardless of what happens with me, I hope Martin recognises that there’s something dark about how he’s been living his life.

He has the name recognition now to make a difference and come out and say: “What I did was terrible and I’m going to do something about it and I challenge everyone to do the same.”

Because that’s a cause we can stand behind.