Joe Manchin, a Hillary Clinton supporter.
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Bresch said Mylan recoups less than half of EpiPen’s list price because pharmacy benefit managers, which often require discounted prices or rebates from drugmakers, are involved, along with insurers and others.
The Daily Caller reached out to the Clinton Foundation for comment and will update with any response.
Mylan spent about $4 million in 2012 and 2013 lobbying members of Congress to gain access to EpiPens and sponsored a group called “Food Allergy Research and Education”, which encouraged schools to stock EpiPens, Bloomberg reported.
There may be hearings on the EpiPen price increases when Congress reconvenes next month. Sheldon Berkowitz and Anupam Kharbanda, who both denounced the price increases as “unconscionable”. A two-dose package, costing around $94 nine years ago, rose more than 600 percent to an average cost of $608 in May, according to the Elsevier Clinical Solutions’ Gold Standard Drug Database.
Mylan issued a statement yesterday touting its efforts to make EpiPens available through savings cards, a patient assistance program, and a program that provides free pens to USA schools.
“EpiPen expires after a year, meaning consumers are required to buy new EpiPens annually”. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., has asked for the Federal Trade Commission to investigate.
“We are concerned that these drastic price increases could have a serious effect on the health and well-being of everyday Americans”, the letter says.
“Unfortunately, the story of EpiPen is not unique”. 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.
In recent days, lawmakers, including Virginia’s Sen.
“The substantial price increase has caused significant concern among patients”, the Iowan Republican wrote in the letter dated Monday. Instead of an EpiPen, keeping a syringe and a vial of epinephrine close by is a far less expensive choice. “When an allergic reaction leads to anaphylactic shock, a shot of epinephrine can literally be the difference between life and death”, Clinton said in an emailed statement.
Blumenthal is set to highlight his push for lower prices for the devices during an event Wednesday afternoon at the Connecticut Children’s Medical Center in Hartford with parents of children who need the EpiPens, as well as medical providers.
“We believe the 8% pullback since EpiPen pricing came back into the spotlight late last week creates a particularly good opportunity for risk-tolerant investors”, he wrote. “What other programs do you have to help consumers cover the remaining $500 that the underinsured, uninsured, or those with high deductible plans may be forced to pay annually?”
Sen. Claire McCaskill and Sen.
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“This is a company that has a virtual monopoly”, said Klobuchar, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Judiciary antitrust subcommittee.
