Shkreli's arrest feeds outrage over soaring drug prices

By Paige Winfield Cunningham, Paige Winfield Cunningham

Published December 20, 2015

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Thursday's arrest of pharmaceutical executive Martin Shkreli has fueled the public outrage over steep drug prices, putting more pressure on Republicans to examine the issue.

The 32-year-old CEO of Turing Pharmaceuticals has been widely criticized since announcing over the summer that he was raising the price of an old, lifesaving anti-parasite drug by 5,000 percent. But the public outcry against him reached a fever pitch Thursday, soon after the hoodie-cloaked Shkreli was hauled off from his Manhattan home by the FBI on charges of securities fraud.

Within hours, his name was trending on Twitter — and not because people were writing flattering things about him.