The EpiPen saga: Democrat CEO ripping off people in dire need...

[MrMike]

So, Heather is a big time Obama supporter and certainly a great friend to Hillary...along with being a donor to *gasp* the Clinton (slushfund) Foundation

Lib's pulling a big ol $$$ ripoff on people in need? surprise...surprise eh?


The Senator’s Daughter Who Raised Prices on Anti-Allergy EpiPen

Members of Congress are in an unusual position as they demand an explanation for Mylan NV’s 400 percent price hike for the EpiPen and focus attention squarely on its CEO: Heather Bresch.

If lawmakers follow the usual script, Bresch could get called up to Capitol Hill next month to explain her company’s justification for raising the price on the life-saving allergy shot. But that could be awkward, since she’s the daughter of Democratic Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia.

While Bresch’s family ties may mute the ire of some lawmakers, others are already asking the company about taxpayers having to foot the bill for these price increases -- particularly after Bresch and the company successfully pushed legislation to encourage use of the EpiPen in schools nationwide.

Mylan is the latest drugmaker to provoke congressional ire for steep price hikes. Martin Shkreli and executives from the company he used to lead, Turing Pharmaceuticals AG, and executives from Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc. were called before congressional committees earlier this year to explain why they bought the rights to older drugs that lacked competition and raised the prices.

Mainstream Drug

The Mylan controversy fits a similar pattern. Mylan has increased the price of its EpiPen from about $57 a shot when it took over sales of the product in 2007 to more than $600 for two auto-injectors. But the company’s EpiPen is a more mainstream drug used to treat life-threatening allergic reactions from bee stings, food allergies or other triggers, which could give the issue a larger constituency.

Mylan declined to comment when asked to explain the price hike or Bresch’s role in promoting legislation. Manchin’s office also didn’t respond to requests for comment.

Members in both chambers expressed outrage this week.

The Senator’s Daughter Who Raised Prices on Anti-Allergy EpiPen - Bloomberg Politics

 

[Compost]

Several years ago asthma inhalers were removed to save the planet. Now people gasping for breath pay more for a less effective treatment mode. The Epipen controversy was inevitable. Frankly, I'm surprised it took this long.

 

[Auld Phart]

So, Heather is a big time Obama supporter and certainly a great friend to Hillary...along with being a donor to *gasp* the Clinton (slushfund) Foundation

Lib's pulling a big ol $$$ ripoff on people in need? surprise...surprise eh?


The Senator’s Daughter Who Raised Prices on Anti-Allergy EpiPen

Members of Congress are in an unusual position as they demand an explanation for Mylan NV’s 400 percent price hike for the EpiPen and focus attention squarely on its CEO: Heather Bresch.

If lawmakers follow the usual script, Bresch could get called up to Capitol Hill next month to explain her company’s justification for raising the price on the life-saving allergy shot. But that could be awkward, since she’s the daughter of Democratic Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia.

While Bresch’s family ties may mute the ire of some lawmakers, others are already asking the company about taxpayers having to foot the bill for these price increases -- particularly after Bresch and the company successfully pushed legislation to encourage use of the EpiPen in schools nationwide.

Mylan is the latest drugmaker to provoke congressional ire for steep price hikes. Martin Shkreli and executives from the company he used to lead, Turing Pharmaceuticals AG, and executives from Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc. were called before congressional committees earlier this year to explain why they bought the rights to older drugs that lacked competition and raised the prices.

Mainstream Drug

The Mylan controversy fits a similar pattern. Mylan has increased the price of its EpiPen from about $57 a shot when it took over sales of the product in 2007 to more than $600 for two auto-injectors. But the company’s EpiPen is a more mainstream drug used to treat life-threatening allergic reactions from bee stings, food allergies or other triggers, which could give the issue a larger constituency.

Mylan declined to comment when asked to explain the price hike or Bresch’s role in promoting legislation. Manchin’s office also didn’t respond to requests for comment.

Members in both chambers expressed outrage this week.

The Senator’s Daughter Who Raised Prices on Anti-Allergy EpiPen - Bloomberg Politics

Terrible, someone should step in and work to limit those outrageous prices, on all overpriced drugs.


BTW, I like your signature line, and I agree.

We should free donuts, they've been enslaved far too long

 

[The Irish Ram]

It costs $2.00 to make. The 1%'ers salary went from 2 million to over 18 million. Who suffers? Those who need the pens that used to cost $50.00 but now cost $700.

 

[MrMike]

Several years ago asthma inhalers were removed to save the planet. Now people gasping for breath pay more for a less effective treatment mode. The Epipen controversy was inevitable. Frankly, I'm surprised it took this long.

Didn't know about the inhalers yet I'm not surprised to hear that happened.

 

[martybegan]

It costs $2.00 to make. The 1%'ers salary went from 2 million to over 18 million. Who suffers? Those who need the pens that used to cost $50.00 but now cost $700.

What does the $2.00 price include? materials? labor, shipping?, all the overhead required for QA/QC?

 

[B. Kidd]

Hillary calls the price increase outrageous. Did she know that the producer, Mylan, CEO is Heather Bresch, the daughter of Democrap Sen. Joe Manchin?

And, so far, there has been no call for the Senators' daughter to appear in front of Congress.

Hillary Calls Epipen Price Increase "Outrageous", As Earnest Calls Mylan Greedy | Zero Hedge

 

[saintmichaeldefendthem]

Several years ago asthma inhalers were removed to save the planet. Now people gasping for breath pay more for a less effective treatment mode. The Epipen controversy was inevitable. Frankly, I'm surprised it took this long.

I'm amazed at how little attention that got. And now, hardly anyone remembers it happened.

 

[MrMike]

Hillary calls the price increase outrageous. Did she know that the producer, Mylan, CEO is Heather Bresch, the daughter of Democrap Sen. Joe Manchin?

And, so far, there has been no call for the Senators' daughter to appear in front of Congress.

Hillary Calls Epipen Price Increase "Outrageous", As Earnest Calls Mylan Greedy | Zero Hedge

Hillary needs to recheck the Clinton Slush Fundation donor list again. She'll find that person/company she's talking about listed there $$$

 

[MrMike]

Anyone else notice any pattern$ when it comes to Libs/Clintons?

 

[Wyatt earp]

Several years ago asthma inhalers were removed to save the planet. Now people gasping for breath pay more for a less effective treatment mode. The Epipen controversy was inevitable. Frankly, I'm surprised it took this long.

They were banned? Dang I didn't know that..Seriously they were banned to save the planet?

WTF?

 

[MrMike]

bwahahahahaha! Look who/what the CEO and company are blaming for the price increases!!!

"Mylan blamed the implementation of the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, for more patients facing higher drug costs as they have enrolled in high-deductible health insurance plans or are uninsured."

Mylan Boosts Price Assistance for EpiPen Amid Backlash

 

[B. Kidd]

bwahahahahaha! Look who/what the CEO and company are blaming for the price increases!!!

"Mylan blamed the implementation of the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, for more patients facing higher drug costs as they have enrolled in high-deductible health insurance plans or are uninsured."

Mylan Boosts Price Assistance for EpiPen Amid Backlash

"I'll take more, please...." is the chant of low-information Hillary supporters. Keep asking for it, cuz you're gonna get it and get it good and hard!

 

[waltky]

Mylan CEO gets uppity with Congress...

Mylan CEO infuriates lawmakers at hearing on EpiPen costs
September 22, 2016 | WASHINGTON (AP) — Mylan CEO Heather Bresch infuriated lawmakers as she tried — and mostly failed — to explain steep cost increases of her company's life-saving EpiPens.

Outraged Republican and Democratic lawmakers on Wednesday grilled Bresch about the emergency allergy shot's sky-high price and the profits for a company with sales in excess of $11 billion. The list price of EpiPens has grown to $608 for a two-pack, an increase of more than 500 percent since 2007. In almost four hours of questioning, the soft-spoken CEO at times seemed unsure, or declined to answer directly, when asked questions about the company's finances and profits, angering lawmakers. "You could make this thing go away by being honest and candid but I don't think you are," House Oversight and Government Reform Chairman Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, told Bresch as he ended the hearing. Afterward, he told reporters he thought she created more problems with her vague testimony.

The frustration was bipartisan. Maryland Rep. Elijah Cummings, the top Democrat on the oversight panel, compared Bresch's answers to a game of "hide the ball." Defending the company's business practices, Bresch said she wishes Mylan had "better anticipated the magnitude and acceleration" of the rising prices for some families. "We never intended this," Bresch said, but maintained that her company doesn't make much profit from each emergency allergy shot and signaled the company has no plans to lower prices.

Families who rely on multiple EpiPens to respond when their children have allergic reactions, whether at home, school or sporting events, have lashed out at Mylan in a growing public outcry. Bresch blamed the furor partly on the complexity of drug pricing. In response to one question, Bresch acknowledged she made $18 million in salary last year. "Sounds like you're doing pretty well on this," said Rep. John Mica, R-Fla.

Chaffetz, said high executive pay at Mylan "doesn't add up for a lot of people" as the EpiPen price has increased. He said executives for the company made $300 million over five years while the list price for a pair of the allergy shots rose. "Parents don't have a choice," Chaffetz said. "If your loved one needs this, it better darn well be in your backpack." Bresch, who displayed an EpiPen, said the company makes only approximately $50 in profit on each shot. But Chaffetz said he finds that "a little hard to believe."

MORE

 

[waltky]

Congress is complicit in high drug prices...

Who’s at Fault for High Drug Prices? Congress, in Part
September 29, 2016 | WASHINGTON — Lawmakers are venting over high prescription drug costs, but if Congress is looking for culprits, it might want to look in the mirror.

Republican- and Democratic-controlled congresses, and presidents of both parties, may have set the stage for the startling price increases that have consumers on edge. In the last 13 years, Congress passed major legislation that expanded taxpayer-financed coverage for prescription drugs but lacked explicit mechanisms for dealing with costs, instead relying mainly on market forces.

Mylan CEO Heather Bresch testifies on Sept. 16, 2016, before Congress over the cost of her company's EpiPens. Lawmakers are outraged at high prescription drug costs, without acknowledging the role Congress may have played.​

Lawmakers look like unwitting enablers in the eyes of some experts. "Congress in attempting to expand access to prescription drugs has inadvertently created a situation where price increases are much more rapid,'' said economist Paul Ginsburg, a former congressional adviser on Medicare who now directs the Brookings Institution health policy center.

Government-sponsored coverage injected more dollars into the market for medications, and new consumer protections curtailed some blunt instruments insurers used to control costs, such as annual and lifetime limits on the dollar value of coverage. "The history we see over and over again is that when the government steps in as a guaranteed payer without regard to price, it will be taken advantage of,'' said Dr. Peter Bach, director of Memorial Sloan Kettering's Center for Health Policy and Outcomes.

Activists hold signs containing the image of Turing Pharmaceuticals CEO Martin Shkreli in front the building that houses Turing's offices, during a protest in New York highlighting pharmaceutical drug pricing, Oct. 1, 2015.​

Government's role

Congressional indignation was on display recently as House members grilled Mylan CEO Heather Bresch about price increases for her company's EpiPens, prefilled syringes that deliver a rescue drug for people suffering life-threatening allergic reactions. The company was accused of gouging patients, but there was little introspection about the role of government. It's not that a secret signal went out from Capitol Hill making it OK for Mylan to charge $608 for an EpiPen two-pack. Instead, government policies make it easier to introduce new medications at a high price and to charge more for existing drugs. "It has dramatically changed the pricing environment,'' Ginsburg said. "If a manufacturer sets the price higher, there will be less resistance to that price because a lot more people will be able to access that drug than in the past. The rational thing for the manufacturer would be to raise the prices both of existing drugs and newly introduced ones.''

Consider the following:

 

[waltky]

At $300 a shot, is it any wonder?...

U.S. government health plans spent over $1 billion on EpiPens over five years
Oct 05 2016 - U.S. government health plans spent more than $1 billion on Mylan NV's EpiPen emergency allergic reaction treatment between 2011 and 2015, according to figures released by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services on Wednesday.

Mylan is under scrutiny for raising prices on the lifesaving EpiPen sixfold in less than a decade, making the devices unaffordable for a growing number of families. U.S. lawmakers and prosecutors are also investigating what impact Mylan's EpiPen pricing has had on government-funded health programs. CMS, in response to a request from U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, said in a letter that the Medicaid plan for the poor spent $797 million on EpiPen in the five-year period, including rebates provided by Mylan, or $960 million before rebates. Costs for the Medicare Part D program for the elderly was nearly $335 million, a figure that does not reflect rebates. Klobuchar and other lawmakers contend that Mylan underpaid rebates to state Medicaid programs by misclassifying EpiPen as a generic instead of a branded drug. The Medicaid rebate for a generic is 13 percent compared with a minimum 23.1 percent for a branded drug.

EpiPen auto-injection epinephrine pens manufactured by Mylan NV pharmaceutical company for use by severe allergy sufferers are seen in Washington​

CMS said it could not determine how much the government is owed for EpiPens, but reiterated its view that Mylan had misclassified the product. "CMS has, on multiple occasions, provided guidance to the industry and Mylan on the proper classification of drugs and has expressly told Mylan that the product is incorrectly classified," the agency said. Mylan has said it complied with CMS rules. On Wednesday, it noted that the classification of EpiPen for Medicaid rebates had been made in 1997, a decade before it acquired the product. New CMS rules that took effect this year allow companies to clarify any classification issues for a product like EpiPen, with companies asked to submit their requests by April 1, 2017. "It would be premature to comment further on this issue until the CMS process has concluded," Mylan said.

Klobuchar in a statement called for "clear answers on how deep this misclassification goes, how much it has cost taxpayers across the country, how many other drugs may be misclassified, and how we get that money back." Mylan Chief Executive Heather Bresch was blasted by lawmakers during a congressional hearing last month for raising the list price for a pair of EpiPens to more than $600 this year. It cost about $100 in 2007, when Mylan acquired the product. Mylan has said the list price does not reflect its true earnings on EpiPen once its discounts to payers, development costs and other expenses are taken into account. It has sought to address the criticism by offering discounts more widely to consumers and plans to make available a generic version for about $300.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-mylan-epipen-cms-idUSKCN1252S7[/quote]​

 

[waltky]

Looks like this only applies to the gov't., not past overcharged consumers...

Mylan to pay $465 million over EpiPen Medicaid rebate dispute
October 7, 2016 - Mylan NV on Friday said it will pay $465 million to settle questions of whether it underpaid U.S. government healthcare programs by misclassifying its EpiPen emergency allergy treatment, which has come under intense scrutiny after a series of drastic price increases.

Mylan has been lambasted by consumers and lawmakers for raising prices on the lifesaving EpiPen sixfold to over $600 for a package of two in less than a decade, making the devices unaffordable for a growing number of families. Lawmakers were trying to determine whether Mylan made more money on EpiPen than warranted from state Medicaid programs by having it classified as a generic product, resulting in much smaller rebates to the government health plans. Mylan Chief Executive Heather Bresch was grilled by the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform for the price increase and they were skeptical of her profit analysis of the product.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, in response to a request from U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, said this week that the Medicaid plan for the poor spent $797 million on EpiPen between 2011 and 2015, including rebates provided by Mylan, or $960 million before rebates. Lawmakers have contended that Mylan underpaid Medicaid rebates by misclassifying EpiPen as a generic instead of a branded drug. The Medicaid rebate for a generic is 13 percent compared with a minimum 23.1 percent for a branded drug. "I am glad the Department of Justice pursued this so quickly," Klobuchar said in a statement. "If other drugs are misclassified, and surely EpiPen isn't the only one ... the taxpayers need to get their money back."

Mylan said in a regulatory filing on Friday that EpiPen will be classified as a branded drug as of April 1, 2017. Bresch told lawmakers this week that Mylan plans to launch a $300 generic version of EpiPen as soon as possible this year. Mylan also lowered its 2016 earnings outlook, but the drugmaker affirmed its 2018 forecast and its shares rose 11 percent to $39.90 after hours. "Kudos to management for fast action," AB Bernstein analyst Ronny Gal said in a video message to investors. "This was one of the major risks everyone was focusing on ... now it is essentially off the table."

Mylan said it will record a pretax charge of about $465 million in the quarter ended Sept. 30. The company, which will make the payment to the Department of Justice and other government agencies, said the settlement does not include any finding of wrongdoing. Mylan, citing changes to the EpiPen consumer discount program and upcoming launch of a generic version, said it now expects full-year 2016 adjusted earnings per share of $4.70 to $4.90, down from $4.85 to $5.15. Mylan said it "remains committed" to its target of at least $6.00 in adjusted earnings per share in 2018.

Mylan to pay $465 million over EpiPen Medicaid rebate dispute

 

[J.E.D]

Anyone else notice any pattern$ when it comes to Libs/Clintons?

I'm noticing a pattern with piss drinkers like you. Trying to politicize this outrageous price hike and use it against Hillary? I smell desperation. Hey, that's the free market, pal. That's our system. The same system that allowed Trump to avoid paying federal taxes after losing almost a billion dollars.

 

[J.E.D]

Hillary calls the price increase outrageous. Did she know that the producer, Mylan, CEO is Heather Bresch, the daughter of Democrap Sen. Joe Manchin?

And, so far, there has been no call for the Senators' daughter to appear in front of Congress.

Hillary Calls Epipen Price Increase "Outrageous", As Earnest Calls Mylan Greedy | Zero Hedge

She already appeared before Congress, dip shit

 

[B. Kidd]

Hillary calls the price increase outrageous. Did she know that the producer, Mylan, CEO is Heather Bresch, the daughter of Democrap Sen. Joe Manchin?

And, so far, there has been no call for the Senators' daughter to appear in front of Congress.

Hillary Calls Epipen Price Increase "Outrageous", As Earnest Calls Mylan Greedy | Zero Hedge

She already appeared before Congress, dip shit

She hadn't appeared when I posted that...........double dip-shit. You can now resume flippin' yer' minnow..........