A chief pharmaceutical executive has come under fire for defending his company’s recent 400 percent price hike on a widely used antibiotic — claiming it’s a “moral requirement to make money when you can” and to “sell the product for the highest price.”

“This is a capitalist economy,” said Nirmal Mulye, founder and president of Nostrum Laboratories.

“If you can’t make money you can’t stay in business,” he told the Financial Times. “I agree with Martin Shkreli that when he raised the price of his drug. He was within his rights because he had to reward his shareholders.”

Mulye went on to compare his company’s price increase of the antibiotic nitrofurantoin — which jumped from $474.75 to $2,392 a bottle this year — to that of an art dealer selling a painting “for half a billion dollars.”

“[I’m in] this business to make money,” he said. “We have to make money when we can. The price of iPhones goes up, the price of cars goes up, hotel rooms are very expensive.”

Mulye praised Shkreli for his infamous 5,000 percent price hike on the AIDS and cancer drug Daraprim in 2015, saying he didn’t blame the man since his company was the only one manufacturing it.

“If he’s the only one selling it then he can make as much money as he can,” Mulye said. “The public shaming effect is waning and triple-digit price increases are not uncommon.”

Despite what he thinks, the “public shaming” was in full effect on Tuesday and Wednesday as word got out about his interview with the FT.

“Scumbag Nostrum Pharmaceuticals founder and President Nirmal Mulye defended his raising the cost of an antibiotic by 400%. What a sleazy douche,” wrote one Twitter user.

“This didn’t work out so well for Martin Shkrelli,” another person tweeted. “‘Changing’ it to moral requirement when greed is the opposite of moral is an absurd excuse that won’t deter the SEC and other agencies that will get involved in the inevitable Nirmal Mulye’ investigation.”

The drug in question, nitrofurantoin, is listed as an “essential” antibiotic by the World Health Organization. It’s used to treat bladder infections.

“There’s no moral imperative to price gouge and take advantage of patients,” tweeted Food and Drug Administration commissioner Dr. Scott Gottlieb. “FDA will continue to promote competition so speculators and those with no regard to public health consequences can’t take advantage of patients who need medicine.”