Mylan has been slammed in recent weeks for raising the price of an EpiPen two-pack, which cost less than the $100 in 2009.
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Bresch’s mother has served as head of the National Association of State Boards of Education since 2012.
In addition to the investigation by the House Oversight committee, at least three senators have also called for investigations into Mylan’s pricing practices.
The CEO is likely to face questions about her own compensation, which amounted to $18 million last year-and more than $25 million in 2014-outranking many packages handed out to top execs at drugmakers much larger than Mylan.
EpiPen jabs a dose of the drug epinephrine into the thigh to counter risky allergic reactions such as to peanuts, food allergies and bee stings.
“We never intended this”, Bresch’s statement says, according to STAT.
Bresch says in the testimony that she wishes the company had “better anticipated the magnitude and acceleration” of the rising prices for some families. The syringes, prefilled with the hormone epinephrine, expire after a year. Sens. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, and Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., have sent letters to Mylan demanding an explanation for the increase.
The request relates to concerns raised that the classification of EpiPensas a generic for Medicaid rebate purposes means that protections against inflation that are applicable to brand-name drugs would not insulate Medicaid from Mylan’s price hikes.
“EpiPen Auto-Injector has been classified as a non-innovator since long before Mylan acquired the product”.
Although Morrisey indicated Mylan has not yet cooperated, a spokeswoman for the company said it has “been cooperating on a continuous basis by providing information in response to the AG’s inquiry”.
Also at today’s hearing, Dr. Doug Throckmorton, FDA Deputy Director, Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, will testify about the potential EpiPen competitors that have been rejected by the agency, including a generic from Teva Pharmaceutical that failed to win approval earlier this year-the generic that Mylan protested in a citizen petition. Some 85% of EpiPen users pay less than $100, she said, although critics say that cost is simply passed along to insurers, who then pass the cost along to consumers in the form of higher premiums. KFF found that between 2007 and 2014, Medicare Part D spending on EpiPen soared upward by more than 1,000%, mostly “driven by a five-fold increase in average Medicare per-prescription spending on the EpiPen, up from $71 in 2007 to $344 in 2014”.
The rising cost has made it hard for many families to afford, prompting a public outcry that has resonated with legislators.
That cost increase isn’t just hitting consumers but insurance companies as well.
The subpoena is also probing Mylan’s potentially fraudulent interaction with West Virginia’s Medicaid program.
Mylan also said that the analysis assumes that each patient receive a single 2-pack of EpiPens, not taking into account instances in which a patient would have gotten multiple packs.
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The company recently announced plans that included rebates for certain patients and project to introduce a generic version of EpiPen for $300 per two-pack.
