'Think you're the Snowden of AIDS drugs?': Woman claims to have Tinder matched with hated HIV drug boss and quizzed him over 5000% price hike

  • New York writer Eve Peyser, 22, matched with Martin Shkreli, 32, on Tinder
  • She decided to use the dating app to 'interview' the pharmaceutical boss
  • Shkreli's company, Turning Pharmaceuticals, bought the rights to HIV drug Daraprim in August and increased the price by 5,000 per cent overnight
  • Peyser questions Shkreli's motives and his stance on capitalism
  • Shkreli eventually blocked or unmatched Peyser, she said
  • Peyser posted the conversation online and wrote an op-ed about Shkreli 

A New York writer who claims to have matched on Tinder with maligned pharmaceutical boss Martin Shkreli has published online the private conversation in which she quizzes him about the controversial price hike of the HIV drug.

Eve Peyser, 22, says that she matched with the 32-year-old CEO of Turning Pharmaceuticals on the dating app last week.

At the weekend she posted to Twitter screenshots of the exchange she purportedly shared over the ensuing days with Shkreli, who was inundated with messages of hate last month when he bought the rights to Daraprim - a drug crucial in the treatment of HIV - and immediately increased the price by 5,000 per cent.

Peyser explained on Mic that she messaged Shkreli not to date him, but to find out 'why he did what he did​' and 'understand the stories that greedy people tell themselves so they can function in the world'.​

Tinder interview: Budding reporter Eve Peyser, 22 (left), matched with maligned pharmaceutical boss Martin Shkreli (right) on Tinder, and decided to use their exchanges to interview him about his company's controversial price hike of the HIV drug Daraprim

Peyser started out by asking Shkreli 'DTGMAD?', which he didn't understand.

She then pointed out she meant: 'Down to give me AIDS drugs?' 

Shkreli replied: 'LOL Hopefully you don't need em.'

From there, Peyser went on to 'interview' Shkreli under the guise of them texting.

Shkreli goes by the way of explaining why he hiked the price of Daraprim, writing: 'This disease was foresaken by drug companies for not being profitable enough. Only a few thousand people get it. So no new drugs for 70 years. Now we'll fix that. Also no one goes without drug even if they can't afford it.'

When Peyser, who writes for website The Daily Dot, suggests that the indignation directed at Shkreli might have been because 'people briefly recognized the evils of capitalism', Shkreli backs off.

'Of course not,' he wrote back.

'Look at the best capitalists giving away all of their money.'

Peyser's final question to Shkreli is whether he believes he is the Edward Snowden of AIDS drugs.

Shrekli does not respond.

In the Mic piece, Peyser says that he either blocked or unmatched her on Tinder after that message. 

New York-based writer Eve Peyser says she developed some empathy for Shkreli while talking to him. The entrepreneur became a figure of hate when he raised the price of HIV drug 5,000 percent overnight

New York-based writer Eve Peyser says she developed some empathy for Shkreli while talking to him. The entrepreneur became a figure of hate when he raised the price of HIV drug 5,000 percent overnight

Hated: Pharmaceutical businessman Martin Shkreli obtained rights to sell the Daraprim - the only U.S.-approved treatment for toxoplasmosis - in August and hiked the price overnight from $13.50 per pill to $750

Hated: Pharmaceutical businessman Martin Shkreli obtained rights to sell the Daraprim - the only U.S.-approved treatment for toxoplasmosis - in August and hiked the price overnight from $13.50 per pill to $750

Peyser says that, during the conversation, she developed some empathy for Shkreli, which is evident in her responses to him.

'Even though he has made decisions that I think have made the world a worse place, I can't begin to imagine what it feels like to be on the receiving end of so much Internet outrage,' she wrote in the Mic piece.

'After all, the guy can't even Tinder anymore without his conversations going viral.

'I would never go out with Martin Shkreli; I prefer to date men who have demonstrated the capacity to feel empathy. 

'I also don't think Martin is the Edward Snowden of AIDS drugs, though I was wondering if Shkreli thought of himself that way.'

Peyser continued: 'But I do believe that Martin Shkreli believes he is doing good for the world, or else he wouldn't have engaged with me. 

'And even though Martin Shkreli is the current face of all that is wrong with capitalism, I do have sympathy for the guy.'

Turning Pharmaceuticals obtained rights to sell the drug, the only U.S.-approved treatment for toxoplasmosis, in August. 

It hiked the price overnight from $13.50 per pill to $750.

Turing had said it would use profits to improve the drug’s formulation and develop new, better drugs for the infection. 

It also stressed that some patients can get financial aid from the company to obtain the drug.

But the price hike sparked outrage from medical groups representing doctors who care for patients with HIV and other infectious diseases, because Daraprim treats patients with compromised immune systems.

Hillary Rodham Clinton called Turing’s price hike 'outrageous' in a tweet.

In one of his interviews, Shkreli was asked to address this drastic increase in price right off the bat.

'Well, it depends on how you define so drastically,' Shkreli told Don Dahler of CBS News .

'Because the drug was unprofitable at the former price, so any company selling it would be losing money. And at this price it's a reasonable profit. Not excessive at all.'

Martin Shkreli, 32, the founder and chief executive of Turing Pharmaceuticals, purchased the rights to Daraprim for $55 million

Martin Shkreli, 32, the founder and chief executive of Turing Pharmaceuticals, purchased the rights to Daraprim for $55 million

He then said that despite how it looked there were 'a lot of altruistic properties to [ the prince increase.'

Most of these 'altrutistic properties' he seemed to be speaking of involved research.

'This is a disease where there hasn't been one pharmaceutical company focused on it for 70 years. We're now a company that is dedicated to the treatment and cure of toxoplasmosis. And with these new profits we can spend all of that upside on these patients who sorely need a new drug, in my opinion,' he explained.

He later added that while he was of course trying to turn a profit, that as a pharmaceutical company 'our first and primary stakeholders are patients, there's no doubt about that.'

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