PRESS RELEASE: Shkreli Awards catalog 2024’s worst actors in healthcare

By Aaron Toleos | January 7, 2025

Unnecessary chemo, Medicare abuse, private equity profiteering feature in annual top ten list

The Lown Institute, an independent healthcare think tank, has released the eighth edition of its Shkreli Awards, given each year to perpetrators of the most egregious examples of profiteering and dysfunction in healthcare.

The “winners” are chosen with the help of a judges’ panel made up of health policy experts, clinicians, journalists, and advocates. The awards are named for the infamous “pharma bro” Martin Shkreli, known for obtaining the manufacturing rights of the antiparasitic drug Daraprim and marking up its price by over 5,000 percent.

“It’s a surprise to no one that healthcare dominates headlines for all the wrong reasons,” said Vikas Saini, MD, president of the Lown Institute. “The Shkreli Awards serve as a stark reminder of what happens when profiteering outweighs the public good. By shining a light on these unethical practices we’re challenging industry leaders and policymakers to do better.”

2024 Lown Institute Shkreli Award Winners

Wreck-it Ralph: CEO follows private equity playbook to bankrupt community hospitals while pocketing plenty
Corporate healthcare behemoth exercises crushing power
Drug company pursues high dose of profits despite risks to patients
Oncologist leaves unconscionable trail of alleged misdeeds, some of them deadly
No cash, no credit, no chemo: Private equity hospital’s passion for profits sends cancer patients packing
Rivers of cash flow from apparent Medicare catheter con
Emergency flight ends with $100K surprise for infant’s family
Pain patients shocked by device maker’s billing practices
Out of the mouths of babes; a taste for tongue-tie cutting intensifies
Texas medical school allegedly neglects to notify next of kin before selling body parts of deceased

A complete list of winners with descriptions, sources, and judges’ comments is available at the Lown Institute website.

###

LAUNCH EVENT: Join us Tuesday, January 7 at 1 p.m. ET for a countdown and discussion of this year’s winners. Panelists include Lown Institute president Vikas Saini, health journalism professor Gary Schwitzer, and US PIRG’s Patricia Kelmar.

About the Lown Institute

The Lown Institute is an independent think tank advocating bold ideas for a just and caring system for health. We envision a healthcare system focused on what’s best for people, like hospitals caring for those most in need, patients living without fear of financial distress, and health professionals finding joy in their roles. The Lown Hospitals Index, a signature project of the Institute, is the first ranking to assess the social responsibility of U.S. hospitals by applying measures never used before like racial inclusivity, avoidance of overuse, and pay equity.

Contact

Aaron Toleos, Lown Institute, (978) 821-4620, atoleos@lowninstitute.org

To eliminate medication overload, serious cultural, educational, and policy changes are needed. This action plan offers recommendations for policymakers, health care institutions, clinicians, and patients across five key categories to reduce harm from multiple medication use. Suggested Citation: Eliminating medication overload: A national action plan. Working Group on Medication Overload. Brookline, MA: The Lown Institute, 2020. DOI: https://doi.org/10.46241/LI.YLBW4885

Pharmaceutical marketing is a significant factor in the growing public health crisis of medication overload, which puts millions of older adults at risk of preventable harm and premature death. This issue brief provides recommendations to reduce pharmaceutical industry influence by limiting pharma sales rep visits to clinicians and direct-to-consumer advertising.

This issue brief provides recommendations for clinical practice guidelines and electronic health records that would give clinicians the information they need to appropriately prescribe and deprescribe.