It will have a list price of $300 for a two-pack, compared with $608 for the brand-name version. The letter was also signed by U.S. Sens.
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Of course, Mylan, which owns the rights to market EpiPens, says it’s not price gouging with a product that’s been around since 1986.
Congressman Greg Walden is Chairman of the Committee on Energy and Commerce, which has also requested information from Mylan.
Recent measures by Mylan to appease consumer and activist concerns about the rising price of their allergic reaction treatment EpiPen do not go far enough, 20 US senators wrote in a letter sent to the company on Tuesday.
Three hundred bucks is still three times the price of an EpiPen in 2007, after all. In reaction to public outcry, the drug company announced last week that it would offer people savings cards to cover half the price of a set of EpiPens.
“While families and schools are struggling to keep up with your company’s unreasonable price increases, Mylan has profited richly from its pricing strategy”, committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) and ranking member Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) seethed in a letter to Bresch.
The uproar over EpiPen prices comes amid a tug-of-war between the Obama administration and private health insurers, who say they are losing money under a new health care law meant to provide access to the poor and uninsured.
Earlier this year, applications for alternative auto-injectors from Teva and Adamis pharmaceutical companies were not approved by the FDA.
“Most generic companies don’t allow co-pay cards”, said Scott Knoer, chief pharmacy officer at the Cleveland Clinic. She blamed the rest of the cost on insurers, pharmacies, prescription benefit managers and distributors. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, wrote that the company’s decision to offer a generic version of EpiPens and offer a discount coupon for patients paying the full list price out-of-pocket still results in high costs for patients through insurance premiums. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va), saw her personal earnings soar from $2.4 million to $18.9million, a 671 percent increase, between 2007 and a year ago.
Mylan hasn’t responded to Associated Press questions about its costs and income from EpiPen, its most profitable product. Mylan’s business model has changed since then, too.
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This bold action comes after patients, doctors and lawmakers alike expressed outrage at a 400-percent price hike for the allergy auto-injector since 2007.
