Mylan is bulking up programs that help patients pay for its EpiPen but the drugmaker didn't budge on its price hikes.
The average cost of the emergency allergy treatment has soared over the past decade. There aren't many competing treatments, forcing families to shell out increasingly large sums for the potentially life-saving treatment. The price hikes have also drawn the ire of Congress.
Insurers and employers pay much of the EpiPen cost for many patients, contributing to higher health insurance costs.
"That's just going to come out in the premiums," said Sabrina Corlette, a research professor at the Georgetown University's Health Policy Institute. "Everybody suffers, except the Mylan investors."
Mylan joins a growing list of drugmakers, including Turing Pharmaceuticals and Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc., that have been called out after instituting mammoth price hikes for their drugs while adding little or no innovation.
Former Turing CEO Martin Shkreli became the poster child for pharmaceutical industry greed last fall when he hiked the price of Daraprim, a life-saving drug, by more than 5,000 percent. Shkreli has applauded Mylan's actions.
The average price of a two-dose EpiPen package climbed to about $608 earlier this year, up more than 500 percent from around $94 nine years ago, according to the Elsevier Clinical Solutions' Gold Standard Drug Database.
Mylan CEO Heather Bresch told CNBC Thursday that lowering the price was not an option.
"Had we reduced the list price, I couldn't ensure that everyone who needs an EpiPen gets one," she said.
NBC News reports that Bresch's pay soared by 671 percent between 2007 and 2015, rising from $2.4 million to $18.9 million. During that same period, the cost of the EpiPen rose by 461 percent.
Coincidentally, Bresch is the daughter of Joe Manchin III, currently a senator for West Virginia and formerly the state's governor. As the New York Times reports, "That could prove to be uncomfortable for Mr. Manchin and his Senate colleagues should Ms. Bresch be called to testify about a more than 400 percent increase in the product’s price since Mylan acquired it in 2007."
EpiPens are used to treat severe allergies that can lead to anaphylactic shock. Roughly 40 million Americans have severe allergies to spider bites, bee stings and foods like nuts, eggs and shellfish.
Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and members of Congress from both parties have quickly ramped up criticism of the price Mylan charges for the medicine.
Clinton said Wednesday that pharmaceutical and biotech industries can fuel American innovation and combat debilitating diseases. But she added that "It's wrong when drug companies put profits ahead of patients, raising prices without justifying the value behind them."
Bresch said Thursday that Mylan gets $274 for a two-dose EpiPen package. The rest of the $608 price goes to entities that stand between the drugmaker and the patient — insurers, pharmacy benefits managers, wholesalers and drugstores.
"This isn't an EpiPen issue," she said. "This isn't a Mylan issue. This is a health care issue."
However, Mylan is the one increasing the price of the EpiPen and the company stuck by those price hikes Thursday.
That stance brought a wave of new money from investors who drove Mylan's shares up more than 2 percent in morning trading, while major U.S. indexes slipped.
Last year, more than 3.6 million U.S. prescriptions for two-packs of EpiPens were filled, according to data firm IMS Health. That brought in sales of nearly $1.7 billion for Mylan.
Mylan said Thursday that it was doubling the eligibility for its patient assistance program to people with incomes four times higher than the federal poverty level. It said a family of four making up to $97,200 would pay nothing out of pocket for the treatment. It also noted that its $300 savings card would cut the bill in half for patients who would otherwise have to pay full price for the EpiPen.
Patients will also be able to order the injected medicine directly from the company, to help lower costs.
These measures could provide help for people with no coverage facing the full bill. But they might have more limited value to a patient whose insurer will cover most of the bill anyway and whose future premium could be affected by the drug's price.
Customers of Express Scripts Holding Co., the nation's largest pharmacy benefits manager, pay about $73.50 out of pocket for an EpiPen prescription, spokesman Brian Henry said. He noted that price has stayed relatively stable the past couple years.
Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Connecticut, dismissed the actions Mylan detailed Thursday as a baby step.
"This step seems like a PR fix more than a real remedy, masking an exorbitant and callous price hike," the senator said in a statement.
___
AP Business Writer Joseph Pisani in New York also contributed to this story.
For the original article, click here.
Take Two's Libby Denkmann spoke with Tom Murphy, Health Writer for the Associated Press and asked Mr. Murphy who is really at fault and how can this kind of pharmaceutical price hike be prevented in the future?
Tom Murphy: This isn't the first time this has happened. There's been other drug makers like Valeant Pharmaceuticals and Turing Pharmaceuticals that have dramatically raised prices on drugs. This is one of those situations where everybody blames everybody else. The drug makers say, it is not their fault, it is the systems fault - it is the system that has too many middle men and is not a true market so prices get artificially inflated and congressmen and politicians and parents and people who pay the price see nothing but greed coming from the drug makers for raising prices.
To hear the full interview, click the blue arrow above.