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Even infamous Martin Shkreli called price-hiking drug makers “vultures.”
When someone like Martin Shkreli fingers your company as greedy “vultures,” you know you’ve got problems.
For pharmaceutical company Mylan, which hiked the price of life-saving EpiPens by 400 percent since it bought the product in 2007, Shkreli’s is just one of the voices in a chorus of scorn now facing the company.
On Wednesday, presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and the American Medical Association (AMA) separately called on Mylan to lower the cost of the auto-injecting pens, which reverse deadly allergic reactions. Also Wednesday, Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) took to Facebook to declare “Mylan’s greed is apparently limitless.” The rebukes follow a steady stream of other Congress members who have questioned and expressed concern over the price increase.
With the bigger price tag, a single, one-time use pen jumped from around $50 to as high as $600. This may keep the life-saving pens out of the hands of many who need them, the AMA warned. Some patients, such as those with severe peanut and bee allergies, are urged to carry the epinephrine-delivering pens with them at all times. And many parents of kids who need an EpiPen are required to keep at least two on hand to ensure safety.
“Although the product is unchanged since 2009, the cost has skyrocketed by more than 400 percent during that period,” the AMA wrote in a statement. “[W]ith lives on the line, we urge the manufacturer to do all it can to rein in these exorbitant costs.”
Clinton echoed the concern, saying the price increase is “outrageous,” according to The Hill. “[I]t's wrong when drug companies put profits ahead of patients, raising prices without justifying the value behind them,” she said.
EpiPen sales now bring in around $1 billion of revenue a year for Mylan. The company’s CEO, Heather Bresch, who was largely behind the price hike, is now one of the industry’s highest paid CEOs. She raked in $18 million in cash and stocks last year, according to STAT.
The New York Times noted that Mylan defends the price increase by noting past product improvements, insurance coverage, and discounts that the company offers.
Rage mounts against pharma corp. that jacked cost of life-saving EpiPen by 400% | Ars Technica
When someone like Martin Shkreli fingers your company as greedy “vultures,” you know you’ve got problems.
For pharmaceutical company Mylan, which hiked the price of life-saving EpiPens by 400 percent since it bought the product in 2007, Shkreli’s is just one of the voices in a chorus of scorn now facing the company.
On Wednesday, presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and the American Medical Association (AMA) separately called on Mylan to lower the cost of the auto-injecting pens, which reverse deadly allergic reactions. Also Wednesday, Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) took to Facebook to declare “Mylan’s greed is apparently limitless.” The rebukes follow a steady stream of other Congress members who have questioned and expressed concern over the price increase.
With the bigger price tag, a single, one-time use pen jumped from around $50 to as high as $600. This may keep the life-saving pens out of the hands of many who need them, the AMA warned. Some patients, such as those with severe peanut and bee allergies, are urged to carry the epinephrine-delivering pens with them at all times. And many parents of kids who need an EpiPen are required to keep at least two on hand to ensure safety.
“Although the product is unchanged since 2009, the cost has skyrocketed by more than 400 percent during that period,” the AMA wrote in a statement. “[W]ith lives on the line, we urge the manufacturer to do all it can to rein in these exorbitant costs.”
Clinton echoed the concern, saying the price increase is “outrageous,” according to The Hill. “[I]t's wrong when drug companies put profits ahead of patients, raising prices without justifying the value behind them,” she said.
EpiPen sales now bring in around $1 billion of revenue a year for Mylan. The company’s CEO, Heather Bresch, who was largely behind the price hike, is now one of the industry’s highest paid CEOs. She raked in $18 million in cash and stocks last year, according to STAT.
The New York Times noted that Mylan defends the price increase by noting past product improvements, insurance coverage, and discounts that the company offers.
Rage mounts against pharma corp. that jacked cost of life-saving EpiPen by 400% | Ars Technica