In an appearance on CNBC, Mylan CEO Heather Bresch blamed the health care system for the high prices, and said the rebates were meant to “help ensure that everyone who needs an EpiPen Auto-Injector gets one”.
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Clinton admonished Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc, which raised the price of a heart drug.
It is noteworthy that Mylan has been helping patients with commercial insurance pay as low as $0 for EpiPen via the savings card.
It is “the same tactic used by drug companies across the industry to distract from their exorbitant price increases, as our investigation has shown repeatedly”, Cummings said. Mylan indicated that patients having to pay full price for EpiPens may be related to insurance plans containing high deductibles.
In a letter to the Federal Trade Commission, Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-Minnesota) wrote: “There does not appear to be any justification for the continual price increases of EpiPen”.
Mylan CEO Heather Bresch told CNBC today that lowering the price was not an option.
“I’ll usually do anything I can to get [patients] an EpiPen”, he said.
Mylan’s decision to offer a 50 percent discount follows the playbook of Martin Shkreli’s Turing Pharmaceuticals, which discounted the anti-parasitic drug Daraprim to $375 per pill after last year’s outrage over price hikes.
The Mylan rebates that had once been $100 will now be $300, she said.
While Mylan NV (NASDAQ:MYL) shares gained as much as 4.21% right after the markets opened today, they are now down nearly 0.5% during the late trading hours. His silence contrasted with a growing number of leaders crying foul on the ballooning prices, including fellow senators and the presidential candidate Manchin has endorsed, Hillary Clinton.
Earlier this month, Mylan was one of the companies Manchin praised for donating money to help build homes in flood-ravaged West Virginia. She also noted that patient assistance programs don’t help customers who, for example, are enrolled in public health care programs.
Members of the Senate Special Committee on Aging Wednesday called on Mylan to brief Congress about the price increase of the medication.
Clinton’s comments came after a bipartisan group of lawmakers called for investigations into the price increase of EpiPens, which are preloaded injections of epinephrine (adrenaline) used in case of a risky allergic reaction that could cause death if untreated.
The statement goes on to detail steps the company is taking to improve access to EpiPens, including offering $300 discount cards, expanding eligibility of its discount program, offering direct sales to patients, and providing schools with free product.
Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, and Sen. The company said a family of four with income up to $97,200 won’t pay out of pocket.
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Furthermore, the scheme is also set to start a pathway for patients, wherein the company will directly deliver their injector orders, which will lower the cost.
