Mylan CEO to Testify on EpiPen Hikes
Heather Bresch, head of Mylan Pharmacueticals, will face questions from the US Congress s at a hearing this week focused on sharp price increases for the company's life-saving EpiPen injector. The ephedrine pen is used in the case of sudden severe allergic reactions. Along with Bresch, an official from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will testify before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.
The committee said it was especially concerned about the price increase for the product, which is used by many schoolchildren. Since 2007, the cost of a two-pack reportedly has risen by more than 500%, while in the same period, salaries of the company’s top managers have also soared. When Mylan bought the EpiPen rights in 2007, the price was $56.64 per pen.
The company recently announced plans to launch a generic version for $300. Several other Congressional committees, including the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs' investigations subcommittee, the Senate Aging Committee and the Senate Judiciary Committee, are conducting probes into excessive price increases by Mylan and other drugmakers, and Bresch, ironically the daughter of a US senator, Joe Manchin of West Virginia, has won praise from another – former – pharmaceutical company CEO hauled before Congressional committees, Martin Shkreli.
The 33-year-old former executive of several pharmaceutical companies, who gained notoriety by jacking up the price of a 62-year-old drug used to treat the deadly parasitic infection toxoplasmosis, from $13.50 to $700 a tablet shortly after acquiring marketing rights, is awaiting trial for securities fraud in connection with another case.
Shrkreli said insurance companies were to blame for users having to pay higher prices, remarking that spending more on products such as EpiPens would save them money in the long run.
