--- description: At least two clinics suspend a trial sponsored by his company title: Martin Shkreli's Arrest Halts Leukemia Drug Trial image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte2b7ca70d578becd/6988764dcd1bba47626fe9fb/h_52474527.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Business](/section/business/) ## Business Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Martin Shkreli's Arrest Halts Leukemia Drug Trial by [Michal Addady / Fortune](/author/fortune/) ## Michal Addady / Fortune Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Dec 21, 2015 3:43 AM CUT  Martin Shkreli, former CEO of Turing Pharmaceuticals, leaves a U.S. Federal courthouse following an arraignment on charges of securities fraud in New York, on Dec. 17, 2015. Martin Shkreli, former CEO of Turing Pharmaceuticals, leaves a U.S. Federal courthouse following an arraignment on charges of securities fraud in New York, on Dec. 17, 2015.Andrew Gombert—EPA by [Michal Addady / Fortune](/author/fortune/) ## Michal Addady / Fortune Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Dec 21, 2015 3:43 AM CUT A clinical drug trial has been suspended following the arrest of “Pharma Bad-Boy” Martin Shkreli. The trial was testing a drug known as KB003 that had been developed to treat a form of leukemia. It was sponsored by KaloBios Pharmaceuticals Inc., which [Bloomberg](http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-12-20/uc-davis-suspends-kalobios-drug-trial-after-ceo-shkreli-s-arrest "undefined") reports was headed by Shkreli. He named himself CEO after purchasing a majority interest in the company just last month. Shkreli, who [stepped down as the CEO](http://fortune.com/2015/12/18/turing-replaces-shkreli/ "undefined") of Turing Pharmaceuticals, is best known for dramatically[ raising the price of an AIDS treatment ](http://fortune.com/2015/09/21/turing-pharmaceuticals-martin-shkreli-response/ "undefined")drug by 5,000%. He [was arrested](http://fortune.com/2015/12/18/martin-shkreli-investors-money/ "undefined") on Thursday under suspicion[ of securities fraud.](http://fortune.com/2015/12/17/martin-shkreli-arrest-fraud/ "undefined") He’s been charged with illegally taking stock from biotech firm Retrophin, which Shkreli founded nearly five years ago, to pay off unrelated business debts. According to a tweet pinned to the top of his Twitter feed, the ex-CEO maintains that the allegations against him are “baseless and without merit”: > [](https://twitter.com/MartinShkreli/status/678279202689425408) Clinical trials for the leukemia treatment were being conducted at various institutions. According to Bloomberg, the University of California at Davis and the Moffitt Cancer Center in Florida have suspended their trials. It is uncertain whether trials at five other clinics—the Mayo Clinic, Cleveland Clinic, University of Miami’s Sylvester Cancer Center, Weill Cornell Medical College, and Northwester University’s Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center—will be halted as well. [_This article originally appeared on Fortune.com_](http://fortune.com/2015/12/20/shkreli-arrest-drug-trial/ "undefined") ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4156574/martin-shkrelis-arrest-leukemia-drug-trial/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4156574/martin-shkrelis-arrest-leukemia-drug-trial/"},"headline":"Martin Shkreli's Arrest Halts Leukemia Drug Trial","datePublished":"2015-12-21T03:43:30.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T13:32:11.529Z","description":"At least two clinics suspend a trial sponsored by his company","url":"https://time.com/4156574/martin-shkrelis-arrest-leukemia-drug-trial/","keywords":["Crime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte2b7ca70d578becd/6988764dcd1bba47626fe9fb/h_52474527.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Michal Addady / Fortune"}],"articleSection":"Business","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte2b7ca70d578becd/6988764dcd1bba47626fe9fb/h_52474527.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Martin Shkreli charged with defrauding investors","caption":"Martin Shkreli charged with defrauding investors","creditText":"Andrew Gombert—EPA","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/business/","name":"Business"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4156574/martin-shkrelis-arrest-leukemia-drug-trial/","name":"Martin Shkreli's Arrest Halts Leukemia Drug Trial"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Martin Shkreli Isn't Exactly Lying Low After Arrest","description":"Shortly after his arrest, former Turing Pharmaceuticals CEO Martin Shkreli live-streamed himself playing chess and browsing dating site OkCupid.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/ncY3Oi8Z/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2015-12-20T18:18:16.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/ncY3Oi8Z.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4156574/martin-shkrelis-arrest-leukemia-drug-trial/","duration":"PT58S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4156574/martin-shkrelis-arrest-leukemia-drug-trial/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```