'Pharma Bro' backs down: Martin Shkreli will roll back outrageous Daraprim price gouge

Turing Pharmaceuticals CEO Martin Shkreli said on Tuesday that he would not go through with his plan to raise the price of the anti-parasite drug Daraprim to $750 per pill, NBC News reported.

"It is absolutely a reaction," Shkreli said of the circumstances behind the decision. "There were mistakes made with respect to helping people understand why we took this action. I think that it makes sense to lower the price in response to the anger that was felt by people."

Shkreli -- who is being sued for $65 million by his former company, Retrophin -- had defended the move as recently as Tuesday morning, telling CBS News that his decision to raise the price of the 62-year-old drug from $13.50 per pill had "a lot of altruistic properties to it."

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According to NBC, the drug will return to its former price within the next few weeks. The "self-trained biologist," as Shkreli described himself, had also said that the increase was necessary for the company to even be mildly profitable, arguing that the money raised would go toward developing similar drugs with fewer side effects.

"It's very easy to see a large drug price increase and say 'Gosh those people must be gouging,'" he said. "But when you find out the company is not making any money, what does that mean? It's very hard stuff to understand."

Watch a report on Shkreli, as aired on NBC on Tuesday, below.