WASHINGTON 鈥� In light of recent EpiPen price hikes, the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee aims to settle the difference between fair pricing and price gouging by making an example of drugmaker Mylan.
鈥淲e鈥檙e hoping, on multiple levels, for the company to defend what looks like an indefensible action in price gouging. The price of a two-pack EpiPen has now gone up 450 percent since 2007 and that鈥檚 just outrageous,” Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-Virginia, a member of the committee, told 91欧美激情 on Wednesday morning.
The committee launched an investigation into the drugmaker on Monday with a letter to Mylan CEO Heather Bresch. The letter asked the company to provide a briefing by Sept. 6, and documentation on Mylan鈥檚 profits from EpiPen sales by Sept. 12.
In 2007, EpiPens cost $94, Connolly said. Now, a two-pack costs $609 鈥� actually an increase of more than 500 percent 鈥斅爌ossible聽through what Connolly called Mylan’s “virtual monopoly” on the drug.
鈥淚 hope that any layman can come to the same conclusion that this is price-gouging, [done] because they can,” Connolly said.
He added聽that Mylan moved its corporate headquarters from the United States to the Netherlands 鈥渢o avoid taxation.鈥�
鈥淭hey pay almost zero in U.S. taxes and show very little responsibility, obviously, with respect to customers as well,鈥� he said. 鈥淲hen you raise prices because you can, an especially when it鈥檚 a lifesaving drug like EpiPen is 鈥� merits some real careful scrutiny.鈥�
Connolly said the committee has already gotten some response from the company in the form of a discounted generic product, 鈥渧irtually identical鈥� to the brand-name EpiPen, that’s聽being sold at half the price.
鈥淐learly there was a lot of discretion in the pricing of this drug. And it鈥檚 purely driven by profit motive,鈥� he said. 鈥淭here鈥檚 nothing wrong with profit, but you have to take into account the millions of people who also depend on the drug.”
He hopes the investigation can 鈥渕ake an example from the company.鈥�
