The top two members of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform announced Monday they are officially launching an investigation into Mylan, the pharmaceutical company that drastically raised the price of the EpiPen, an emergency allergy shot.
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Mylan has been facing a storm of protests over its decision to keep EpiPen’s price tag at about $600 even though the company claims to have lowered out-of-pocket costs for the pen.
However, those concessions did little to remedy the public’s scorn, largely because the product’s list price didn’t change. The list price for an EpiPen two-pack has risen from about $100 when Mylan acquired the product in 2007 to just over $600, making it unaffordable for many uninsured consumers or people with high-deductible plans.
“Our decision to launch a generic alternative to EpiPen is an extraordinary commercial response”, chief executive Heather Bresch said.
Last week Mylan came under fire from politicians, health advocates and parents in the United States for raising the price of its branded EpiPen to $US300 ($396). At $US300 ($397), and for something so important to those who suffer from severe allergies, it’s still stupidly overpriced.
Under vast scrutiny and criticism, Mylan CEO Heather Bresch comments that this move is a simpler alternative than rolling back the price nearer to its original cost. “A national dependence on accessibility to EpiPens has been well established since Mylan’s acquisition of the device in 2007”, they write.
“The launch of a generic version of EpiPen is a step forward in addressing the dramatic price increase of the lifesaving medication. We’re cautiously optimistic that we will have access to this drug in another month or two”, Kerr said. And the company says that the generic version will be classified in such a way that pharmacists can substitute the chemically identical version for the name brand without having to consult the prescribing physician.
Sanofi SA pulled its own device from the market previous year, also on concerns of inaccurate dosage.
Adam J. Fein, president of Pembroke Consulting, who studies the drug distribution industry, said that if Mylan had simply lowered the price it would have risked angering all parties in the distribution network, including pharmacy benefit managers, wholesalers and pharmacies, which take a piece of the total amount spent on the drug.
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Mylan shares closed up 0.4 percent at $43.22 on the Nasdaq, amid a moderate upturn for the broader stock market.
