The CEO of the company that manufacturers the EpiPen device - which has been harshly criticized over the past several weeks for dramatic price increases that are putting the allergy medication out of reach for some families - was grilled by members of Congress on Wednesday for using the product to “get filthy rich at the expense of our constituents”.
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The committee called Bresch to testify after the company raised the list price for a pair of EpiPens to $600 from the $100 a pair of the auto-injectors sold for in 2007, when Mylan acquired the product.
The Food and Drug Administration also faced criticism. Cummings asked, clearly frustrated that Mylan had not provided documents to answer the question.
“They will fly back to their mansions in their private jets and laugh all the way to the bank while our constituents suffer, file for bankruptcy, and watch their children get sicker, and in some cases die”.
“The EpiPen clearly is profitable at prices far lower than Mylan’s US prices”, Robert Weissman, president of Public Citizen, said in a statement.
The 47-year-old executive said the company was motivated to boost public use of the product after they purchased it and learned that just a fraction of the more than 40 million people who require EpiPens actually had access. “If your loved one needs this, it better darn well be in your backpack”.
In answering committee questions ahead of the hearing, Mylan said it had $912 million in net revenue from EpiPens previous year and spent $97 million on marketing, according to Rep. Elijah Cummings (D., Md.).
The EpiPen is an automatic injector, delivering a dose of the generic medicine epinephrine through a quick jab in the thigh.
“I am a very conservative, pro-business Republican, but I am really sickened by what I. heard here today”, Representative John J. Duncan Jr. of Tennessee said at Wednesday’s hearing.
The price increases ignited a national controversy in August, as a growing number of families protested and said they were unable to afford the device through their health insurance.
Expensive drugs have greatly added to the overall annual cost of US health care and are posing serious economic consequences for consumers, health insurers and federal government agencies and programs. The pricing furor has hurt company shares, bringing them to a historically low valuation.
“You could make this thing go away by being honest and candid but I don’t think you are”, House Oversight and Government Reform Chairman Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, told Bresch as he ended the hearing.
Mylan’s CEO, Heather Bresch, has claimed that out of the $609 charged for a two-pack of EpiPens, the company only makes a $50 profit.
“This is why we don’t believe you”, he said.
According to Reuters, the EpiPen made up billion of Mylan’s $9.45 billion in annual sales in 2015, which accounted for approximately 20 percent of its profit. According to research from the watchdog group Public Citizen, Mylan’s price for the EpiPen far outstrips the price of two of the devices in other countries - which range from $210 in Germany, the highest, to just $69 in the United Kingdom. She also attempted to shift blame for the outrage to other players in the pharmaceutical ecoystem, repeatedly saying that Mylan receives only $274 for each two-pack after rebates, discounts and other costs.
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The CEO also asserted that the EpiPen had competition throughout the course of the yearslong price hikes, though lawmakers pressed her on whether the product’s near-dominance in the market could be classified that way. Bresch also boasted of Mylan’s decision to start marketing a generic EpiPen that would cost only $300. Participating companies pay 13 percent in rebates on generic drugs versus 23 percent on branded products. One financial analyst told the New York Times that the Mylan unit that sells EpiPen saw its operating profit margin grow by more than 50 percent since the EpiPen price hikes began in 2008.
