(AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli, File).
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Bresch said during testimony that after rebates, fees and costs, the company makes about $100 per EpiPen pack.
Mylan Pharmaceuticals CEO Heather Bresch defended her company’s decision to increase the price of the EpiPen during a hearing held by the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform Wednesday afternoon.
Bresch has been back-peddling for weeks following complaints from Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, lawmakers and consumer groups about a marketing strategy that drove up the list price of the two-pack almost six-fold since 2007, from $100 to $600. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., tried to quell the fury by casting the image of a company that makes a life-saving device. The product “generates 10% of their revenue”, noted committee chair Rep. Jason Chaffetz, and Mylan had “five executives in five years who earned almost $300 million in compensation”.
Bresch, who sat emotionless while lawmakers condemned Mylan and other big pharma companies for engaging in greedy business practices, said she wishes Mylan had “better anticipated the magnitude and acceleration” of the rising prices for some families.
Cummings emphasized his disgust that pharmaceutical companies would continue to ratchet up drug prices for life-saving medication and said he hoped Bresch would apologize.
Families who rely on multiple EpiPens have lashed out at the pharmaceutical company Mylan.
Bresch on Wednesday responded when asked if she was going to lower prices. She also claimed her $18 million pay past year was “in the middle” of compensation packages in the biopharma industry. Questioned Chairman Jason Chaffetz, a Utah Republican.
“In the more than 8 years we have owned the EpiPen product, we have worked diligently and invested to enhance the product and make it more available”, she said in her testimony.
“Driving the price down is great, but Congress shouldn’t be micromanaging that”, Chaffetz said. “You need one in the vehicle and another in the backpack or whatever”, he said. She says Mylan has found a balance between the price of the drug and accessibility, especially in schools.
Mr. Chaffetz offered little sympathy for Mylan’s bottom line, pointing to generous pay for Mylan’s executives.
The EpiPen delivers a dose of epinephrine, an antidote to a severe and potentially deadly allergic reaction to anything from nuts to bee stings. The syringes, prefilled with the hormone epinephrine, expire after a year.
Mulvaney then turned to Bresch, telling her Mylan is getting what it deserves. That requires investment, Ms Bresch said.
Bresch is the daughter of U.S. Sen. Today’s hearing follows several other hearings about other drug companies raising the price on older drugs.
While Bresch pointed to Mylan’s response in expanding its patient assistance program (PAP) and its “unprecedented” step to offer an authorized generic at a 50 percent discount, lawmakers countered with her almost $19 million salary and the fact that the Epipen generates 9 percent of the profit for a company that markets 2,700 different products.
She notes Mylan plans to sell a generic version for half the cost of the brand-name product.
Critics have said the coupons, discount cards and patient assistance programs aren’t real solutions because many customers won’t use them or won’t qualify for them.
Chaffetz said he was skeptical that the company will lose any money on the generic versions. “You chose to charge her $US600 ($816) instead of cutting off her arm”, DesJarlais said.
“They never, ever, ever lower their prices”, he said.
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Last year, more than 3.6 million US prescriptions for two-packs of EpiPens were filled, according to data firm IMS Health. Several Republican representatives said that while they supported free-market capitalism, this was an example of the market failing to produce competitors and bring down the price of a lifesaving product.
