Also feeding the controversy is Heather Bresch’s salary, which has increased from more than two million dollars a year to almost $19-million since Mylan acquired the Epipen in 2007. The EpiPen delivers a measured dose of epinephrine that is considered to be life saving for people who have allergic reactions to foods or insect bites.
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Mylan spokeswoman Nina Devlin did not respond to inquiries about Clinton’s criticism of the company. She lamented the roles of the news media and members of Congress and, at one point, struggled to explain why the issue is comparable to the country’s mortgage crisis in 2007.
Dr. Scott Gottlieb, who worked previously at the FDA, said on MetroNews Talkline Thursday that typically when four choices are in the marketplace, the price of a product will be reduced by half.
She just hopes prices will start going down, as her kids grow up.
“It’s a lot less than the states”, one pharmacist said.
Earlier in the day, Bresch discussed the repeated big price hikes, telling CNBC that intermediaries including wholesalers, retailers and pharmacy benefit managers add to the ultimate cost.
On Thursday, Mylan announced the company will be offering coupons covering up to $300 “for patients in health plans who face higher out-of-pocket costs”. Mylan raised the price of a two-pack of Epipens from $100 in 2009 to its current price of about $600. Mylan has no control over any insurance company’s decision about covering the cost of the EpiPen.
After one EpiPen competitor was pulled from the market previous year, only one rival product is available, Adrenaclick, which carries a list price of $461. The company said around half of US schools are participating in that program. Turing’s former CEO Martin Shkreli became the poster child of pharmaceutical-industry greed last fall for hiking the price of a life-saving drug, Daraprim, by more than 5,000 percent. Unlike other countries, the US doesn’t regulate medicine prices, so drugmakers can charge as much as they want.
Bresch’s father, Democratic Sen.
Manchin said he shares concerns about “the skyrocketing prices of prescription drugs”.
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So insurance companies, federal health programs like Medicare and Medicaid and school districts that stock the products could still pay the same price.
