New York
New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman said on Tuesday that a preliminary probe showed Mylan may have added anti-competitive terms to sales contracts with the schools. It’s the latest fallout for the company after a 500 percent price increase triggered outrage by lawmakers and the public.
“No child’s life should be put at risk because a parent, school or health care provider cannot afford a simple, life-saving device because of a drug-maker’s anti-competitive practices,” Schneiderman said in a statement on Tuesday.
The investigation will be broad, and a key focus will be whether Mylan locked schools into non-competitive contracts in order to purchase the EpiPens at an affordable price, according to a person familiar with the matter who asked not to be identified because the details aren’t public.
EpiPen, a self-administered injection of epinephrine used to treat allergic reactions from bee stings, food allergies or other triggers, cost $57 a shot when Mylan purchased the drug in 2007. Now, almost a decade later, the price of two auto-injector EpiPens is more than $600, according to prescription drug price tracker GoodRx.
The EpiPen price increases drew particular attention in Washington because Chief Executive Officer Heather Bresch, the daughter of Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W. Va., successfully pushed legislation to encourage use of the product in schools nationwide.
Mylan had spent about $4 million in 2012 and 2013 on lobbying for EpiPens, including on the 2013 School Access to Emergency Epinephrine Act, according to lobbying disclosure forms filed with the Office of the Clerk for the House of Representatives.
Mylan, based in Canonsburg, Pa., said in a statement on Tuesday that the company’s EpiPen4Schools program doesn’t have any purchase requirements for participation.
“Previously, schools who wished to purchase EpiPen Auto-Injectors — beyond those they were eligible to receive free under the program — could elect to do so at a certain discount level with a limited purchase restriction, but such restriction no longer remains,” according to Mylan’s statement.
Responding to outrage on raised prices for the EpiPen, Mylan announced that it would introduce a generic version for $300, while continuing to sell the branded product. The move was blasted by members of Congress who called it a public-relations maneuver.
On Sept. 1, the New York City official in charge of protecting the city’s pension funds for teachers, firefighters, police and city employees asked Mylan in a letter to name an independent chairman.