For pharmaceutical company Mylan, which hiked the price of life-saving EpiPens by 400 percent since it bought the product in 2007, Shkreli’s is just one of the voices in a chorus of scorn now facing the company.
Advertisement
In response to questions about its high list price, Mylan noted in an email to Business Insider that about 80% of people with commercial insurance who also used a “My EpiPen Savings Card” received the device for $0. Private insurers often negotiate discounts off the list price, and patient out-of-pocket costs vary by plan.
The company said it also has programs to help patients pay for EpiPen. An EpiPen two-pack now costs up to $600, and the most recent price increase is hitting parents as they renew back-to-school prescriptions.
In a previous statement, Mylan said the EpiPen’s price “has changed over time to better reflect important product features and the value the product provides”.
Lisa Johnson, a member of the leadership team of Food Allergy & Anaphylaxis Michigan Association, is anxious about school children during the upcoming school year, which she fears may be “catastrophic”. In March, she released a campaign ad vowing to target the company.She has also sharply criticized Turing Pharmaceuticals for raising the price of an antiviral medication commonly used by AIDS patients and pregnant women, to $750 from $13.50 a tablet. It now generates over $1 billion a year in revenue for the company.
And Hillary Clinton weighed in, calling the price increases “outrageous”.
EpiPen auto-injection epinephrine pens manufactured by Mylan NV pharmaceutical company for use by severe allergy sufferers are seen in Washington, U.S. August 24, 2016. At the time of Sanofi leaving the market, Mylan had 85 percent of the market share for epinephrine prescriptions.
U.S. Rep. Erik Paulsen, R-Minn., co-chair of the House Medical Technology Caucus, on Wednesday sent a letter to Mylan CEO Heather Bresch, expressing concerns about the rising cost of EpiPens. “As leaders of the Senate Special Committee on Aging, we are particularly concerned that seniors have access to EpiPen® because, according to Mylan’s website, older Americans ‘may be at an increased risk of having a more severe anaphylactic reaction if they are exposed to biting and stinging insects'”.
In earlier investigations into drug prices, the chiefs of many companies have been grilled and lectured harshly by lawmakers. “Some patients and physicians are resorting to buying epinephrine ampoules and filling their own syringes”, said Dr. Thomas Casale, a professor of medicine at the University of South Florida and executive vice president of the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology (AAAAI).
Advertisement
Klobuchar supports allowing Medicare to negotiate drug prices for millions of seniors. The firm acknowledged that an increasing number of households had high-deductible health plans with higher drug costs, but added it was “committed to working [on] solutions to meet the needs of the patients and families we serve”.
