The company behind the lifesaving EpiPen epinephrine injectors – Mylan – may have overcharged the federal government [taxpayers] by $1.27 over ten years, according to a new estimate from the Department of Health and Human Services’ Inspector General.
They incorrectly classifying its signature product under a government rebate program.
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Categorizing EpiPens as a generic drug instead of a brand-name product allowed the company to provide Medicaid less in rebates, leaving taxpayers with a bigger bill.
“It looks like Mylan overcharged the taxpayers for years with the knowledge EpiPen was misclassified, and the previous administration was willing to let the company off the hook,” Grassley said in a statement. “The fact that Mylan is unwilling to cooperate and provide documents voluntarily makes me wonder what there is to hide and whether a subpoena is the only way to get to the bottom of this.”
Senator Manchin’s daughter Heather Bresch is the Mylan CEO and she was a big donor to the Clinton Foundation. As she raised the prices of EpiPen by 461%, she also hiked her salary and that of her executives. Her salary rose 671%.
Her salary went from $2,453,456 to $18,931,068.
In 2007 the company bought the rights to EpiPen, a device used to provide emergency epinephrine to stop a potentially fatal allergic reaction and began raising its price, first 5%, then 19%, another 10% and finally 15%.
The stock price more than tripled.
The company spent $1.2 million on lobbying. Likely as a result of the lobbying, the government passed a law giving block grants to states requiring schools to stock EpiPens. Packages of EpiPens were required to be sold with two EpiPens.
The company also killed off the competition.
“This outrageous increase in the price of EpiPens is occurring at the same time that Mylan Pharmaceutical is exploiting a monopoly market advantage that has fallen into its lap,” Sen. Klobuchar said in a public statement. “Patients all over the U.S. rely on these products, including my own daughter. Not only should the Judiciary Committee hold a hearing, the Federal Trade Commission should investigate these price increases immediately.”
Without competition, Mylan has been able to continuously raise their prices on the life-saving medication and injector — there are no companies to offer it for less. There were consumer complaints but they were ignored, Gizmodo reported.
Because of their cozy relationship with the FDA and their questionable practices, Mylan was able to take a drug worth fifty cents and sell it for more than $600.
How They Did It
Apparently anyone can lodge a complaint with the FDA and the FDA can choose to make a case out of it which is what happened with Mylan’s potential competitors.
Citizen petititons can keep a drug or device from FDA approval. When Teva tried to sell a far cheaper generic EpiPen in 2015, Mylan employees filed a citizen’s petition complaining about Teva safety to keep them from market. Mylan apparently relied on this practice.
Epinephrine costs about fifty cents an injection but Mylan has their own FDA-approved injector and any time a competitor comes along with another injector, Mylan’s friends in the FDA would have concerns and keep it from market.
Pharmaceutical companies in general have also squelched competition by, in effect, paying one another to delay the introduction of generic drugs. The Supreme Court ruled in 2013 that regulators could challenge such agreements on antitrust grounds, but did not declare those deals illegal. Congress should pass legislation that would make pay-for-delay agreements illegal.
If “someone” doesn’t go to prison for this then give her several simultaneous injections
It is shocking and uncovered on any network except Fox.
more corruption, just keeps piling up deeper and deeper
I’ve followed this episodic arrangement only on a casual basis. It is typical of bidding on government contracts, i. e. a vendor writes the specs and only the vendor’s product meets the specs, so no competitors make a bid.
First, the process for providing this seems highly suspicious. Otherwise, why don’t competitors enter into fray. It appears that this is the real story.
Second, it’s my understanding that the drug is generic, but the injector isn’t. From what I’ve read, the injector is key. The school systems are required to have this drug available and the school systems don’t want the liability of using a syringe, so they rely on the injector stab and the injector to deliver the dosage and the only company that can meet the specs is this one.
Is that correct?
Pretty much the story of health providers/vendors in the U. S. A. What else would one expect when the medical industry has a cozy monopoly with all the various levels of government, i. e. local, state, national, and, even world, including regulation as well as guaranteed payment by the U. S. A. taxpayer and health insurance providers?
To my knowledge, there is no free market system operating anywhere in the world for any industry. If there is, please, point me in that direction. I’d like to see how it in action.
Considering how utterly corrupt the previous administration was I couldn’t help but wonder whether or not the situation with Teva wasn’t based upon it being an Israeli company.
I also wonder to what extent this corporate graft covers. I used to use the inhaler Primatene Mist until it was removed from the market. As a result the only option was getting a “prescription” from a doctor. So NOW a person has the continuing expense of doctor visits. Furthermore, the cost of Primatene was around 20 dollars whereas the prescription types were around 60-80 dollars. A Considerable increase in cost compared to the OTC product.
Therefore, considering the price differential makes a person wonder if there weren’t influence to have it removed so as Everyone Now has to settle for the higher cost, both in doctor visits and the cost of the product.
Primatene was removed because of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) used as the propellant. Supposedly these substances deplete the Ozone layer. But THAT is suspect. First of all, the measurements taken for the concentration were Always done in the middle of winter, usually January.
What the public is unaware of and was never reported is HOW the Ozone layer “works”. It is “Created” by sunlight hitting the atmosphere. So, during the winter the suns rays aren’t as pronounced and the result is the Ozone layer depletes and consequently when in summer, the rays Increase the Ozone layer.
What IS suspicious is the fact that Dupont, which had the patent on Freon, the CFC culprit, was due to run out. At the SAME time the EPA ruled to eliminate this particular Freon and lo, and behold, Dupont has the patent for the REPLACEMENT.
What is ludicrous is the notion that the miniscule amount of CFC’s contained in Primatene would be so damaging when it is actually insignificant. Any rational person would realize that if the Ozone layer were SO SO fragile earth would never have survived to this point.
At the time the media were running stories “claiming” the abundance of skin cancers were the inevitable result. This contradicts the fact that the Ozone layer is at its most dense during the summer heat when people spend most time outdoors.
We should not discount the fact people have become addicted to baking in the sun without any physical exertion. One has only to look at WHO was getting these skin cancers and the lifestyle they live. For example, my family has a much darker complexion than many. Because of that our skin doesn’t turn red when exposed to long ventures in the sun. We just keep getting darker. Those who are light-skinned and easily sunburned are the most susceptible.