EpiPen Pricing Controversy Reveals Ignorance about Market Competition

by | Jun 26, 2018

EpiPen Pricing Controversy Reveals Ignorance about Market Competition

by | Jun 26, 2018

A recent episode of CNN’s Boss Files podcast featured Heather Bresch, CEO of Mylan and the first woman to run a Fortune 500 pharmaceutical company. The podcast focused primarily on her journey to success. However, roughly 40 minutes in, Bresch was questioned about her pricing strategy for EpiPen, the epinephrine auto-injector for treating emergency allergic reactions.
Mylan acquired the right to sell EpiPen in 2007 and, under Bresch’s leadership, EpiPen prices were raised nearly 400 percent in late 2015. In mid-2016, Mylan released a generic EpiPen, which sold for about $300 for a 2-pack (50 percent less expensive than the name-brand version). When questioned about Mylan’s pricing and promotion strategy, Bresch explained that patients “needed a solution and wanted a solution” and that her generic device provided both.
Not everyone is sympathetic to her answer. A recent business column in the Los Angeles Times called her comments “bogus on many levels” and said her actions demonstrate “unfettered corporate greed.” Others compare her to disgraced drug-industry executive Martin Shkreli of Turing Pharmaceuticals. Shkreli, who is now serving time for securities fraud, received sharp criticism when he raised the price of the drug Daraprim from $13.50 to $750 a pill in 2015.
Read the rest at independent.org.

Our Books

Shop books published by the Libertarian Institute.

libetarian institute longsleeve shirt

Our Books

cb0cb1ef 3fcb 417d 80d8 4eef7bbd8290

Recent Articles

Recent

The Unpopular Truth About Foreign Aid

The Unpopular Truth About Foreign Aid

Editor's note: This article is taken from Libertarian Institute Managing Editor Keith Knight's opening statement from a June 28 debate on Zerohedge with Mike Benz and Cenk Uygur.  When I say American foreign aid, I am generally referring to resources given or lent by...

read more
The Ruse of a Trump-Netanyahu Falling Out

The Ruse of a Trump-Netanyahu Falling Out

Despite dramatic headlines about President Donald Trump’s clashes with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the reality is that U.S.-Israel relations remain as robust as ever. To understand why these headlines don’t reflect a true break, one need only consider...

read more

Pin It on Pinterest

Share This