Not long ago we profiled a controversial young biotech short-seller who flipped and took the ultimate long position—starting his own publicly traded company and becoming its chief executive. The question about Martin Shkreli, 31, was whether after making a name for himself betting on biotech stocks to fall, he had undergone a conversion or was using his knowledge to game the biotech field.
After a rocky few months marked by erratic public statements from Shkreli, his board of directors at Retrophin, an orphan-disease drug maker, apparently got antsy. On Tuesday, the board abruptly fired him.