“We’ve see these prices creep up and up every single year for so many drugs and this is just the latest glaring example”, says Senator Klobuchar.
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She recently fronted a campaign titled Anaphylaxis For Reel, which encouraged allergy sufferers to be prepared for anaphylactic shocks by arming themselves with products like the EpiPen, which contains the drug epinephrine.
Bresch did not directly answer questions about the more than 600 percent increase in her salary during the same time as the EpiPen cost increases.
On Wednesday, Blumenthal sent a letter to Mylan CEO Heather Bresch demanding to know why the price has spiked so drastically, and threatening to launch an investigation into potential antitrust violations and illegal trade practices.
CEO Bresch’s salary increased 671 percent from 2007 to 2015, and she now takes home about $19 million per year, the Chicago Tribune reported.
The rise in price of the popular self-injector for serious allergy attacks – EpiPen – in the United States has reopened the debate on the uncontrolled prices of medications here, something that Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton has promised to tackle if she wins the November election. “If that system fails, you’ve got medicine in a thing that’s not giving it to you and that’s useless”, said Dr. Ebbeling.
“The price of EpiPen is outrageous”, said Robert Weissman, president of consumer watchdog group Public Citizen.
Mylan also is opening a pathway so that patients can order EpiPen® Auto-Injector directly from the company, thereby reducing the cost. No one; everybody should be frustrated.
CBS News reports that the price of EpiPens has increased by more than 480 percent since 2009, two years after Mylan purchased the device from Merck.
As Quartz reported, when Mylan purchased EpiPens from Merck in 2007, the devices only cost $57, and now, they’ve increased to a shocking cost of $300 for people with insurance. It rose to $284 this summer, according to Richard Evans, a health care analyst at SSR. And at that point, then we’ll have the conversation that she wants to have. Though Mylan’s changes have not been what was asked (namely a lower wholesale price) the company’s response shows a recognition of a problem. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) said in a statement.
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Parker took to Instagram on Thursday to announce that “I have ended my relationship with Mylan as a direct result” of its pricing decisions.
