What Mylan's CEO Will Tell Congress About the Price of EpiPen
Heather Bresch, the CEO of Mylan, defended to congressional lawmakers Wednesday the dramatic increase in the price of EpiPen, the life-saving drug used by those with severe allergies.
“I think many people incorrectly assume we make $600 off each EpiPen,” she said, according to her prepared testimony released by the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. “This is simply not true.”
The reality, she said, is “after subtracting all EpiPen Auto-Injector related costs our profit is $100, or approximately $50 per pen.”
The price of EpiPen has risen about 500 percent in recent years. It now sells in the U.S. for about $600 for a two-pack. Both House Republicans and Democrats on the oversight panel have expressed concern about the increase.
“There is justified outrage from families and schools across the country struggling to afford the high cost of EpiPens,” Jason Chaffetz, the Republican congressman from Utah who chairs the panel, and Elijah Cummings, the Maryland Democrat who is its ranking member, said in a joint statement last week.
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They said the hearing would look to encourage competition in the EpiPen market and to accelerate the Food and Drug Administration’s approval of new generic versions of the drug. The FDA had rejected a cheaper generic version about six months ago and, as my colleague Adam Chandler noted, that “kept … EpiPen one of very few options for severe allergy sufferers, incentivizing Mylan to keep prices high.”
Bresch, in her testimony Wednesday, said: “We never intended this.” Indeed, last month, amid criticism of the price increases, Mylan announced it would offer a $300 coupon for EpiPens to help cover the co-pays for some customers.
We’ll update this post with more details from Bresch’s testimony.
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This article was originally published on The Atlantic.
