The CEO of Mylan, the pharmaceutical company that sells the emergency epinephrine injector EpiPen, appeared in front of the House Oversight committee today and defended a 500 percent price hike for the decades-old, life-saving allergy drug as members of both parties criticized her and her company.
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Chaffetz says he finds that “a little hard to believe”.
House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform bipartisan hearing with officials from Mylan, which dramatically increased its prices for EpiPens.
The Mylan executive has some familiarity with Capitol Hill – she is the daughter of Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va. But lawmakers so far haven’t cut her any slack because she is related to a colleague. She remained steadfast in her defense of Mylan’s pricing practices, saying that after all costs have been taken into account, the company makes only $100 or so for each pair of EpiPens sold.
But Bresch wasn’t the only one under fire.
Bresch also argued that the focus on pricing risks ignoring the secondary issue of access, but she said she does not plan on increasing the price of EpiPens in 2017.
“I would say saving the USA 180 billion dollars”, she replied, without explanation.
Bresch emphasized that in the eight years Mylan has owned EpiPen, the company has invested to improve the product and access to it, estimating the total investment at more than $1 billion.
But Heather Bresch, Mylan’s chief executive, stayed firm in her message that the list price of EpiPen had increased because of the inherent complexity of the pharmaceutical marketplace and that few patients were paying the list price. According to Bresch, the company’s profit after costs is 50 dollars per EpiPen.
Mylan paired the price increases with an aggressive marketing campaign emphasizing the dangers posed by a severe allergic reaction, which Bresch characterized in the hearing as a public service raising awareness about anaphylaxis.
“I feel like you’re not giving me answers, ma’am”, Cummings said at a later point.
“What happened that you deserved to earn a 67 time increase?”
Heather Bresch, CEO of Mylan: “Yes”.
Insurance companies typically refuse to cover the Adrenaclick, a product as effective and easy to use as the EpiPen, said McDonald, who is also a state assemblyman.
“This unprecedented move is the fastest and most direct way to reduce the price for all patients”, she said.
Duncan, like other Republicans, said the free market is not working in this case because Mylan has a virtual monopoly over auto-injected epinephrine.
Chaffetz said the lack of competition in the market contributed to the situation and that families were forced to incur the increasingly high cost for a drug that is often not covered by insurers.
“The market forces aren’t at work”, said Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, the committee’s chairman.
He noted that some parents buy several packs of the device to make sure one is handy if their child needs it.
“The article is completely inaccurate”, Bresch said. She had been appointed by her husband, then the state’s governor, to the West Virginia State Board of Education five years earlier. A Wall Street Journal analysis from last week found that Mylan actually ranks second among US drug makers when it comes to executive compensation. Mylan’s political action committee and its employees are his second-largest campaign contributor since 2011, having given $58,250 to his campaigns. Her father is Sen.
In her prepared testimony, released on Tuesday, Bresch said Mylan was already moving to address concerns about price by expanding discount programs and launching a $300 generic version.
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“I’m concerned this is a rope-a-dope strategy”, Cummings said. “While our constituents suffer, file for bankruptcy and watch their children get sicker or die”.
