The EpiPen outcry has not led to lower prices
A FEW weeks ago, after some particularly incompetent parenting on my part, I visited the local pharmacy to fill an EpiPen prescription.
You might recall EpiPen as last year’s poster child for outof-control drug prices. Though this simple medical device contains only about $1 of the drug epinephrine, the company that sells it, Mylan, earned the public’s enmity and lawmakers’ scrutiny after ratcheting up prices to $609 a box.
Outraged parents, presidential candidates and even both parties in Congress managed to unite to attack Mylan for the price increases. By August, the company, which sells thousands of drugs and says it fills 1 in every 13 American prescriptions, was making mea culpas and renewing its promise to “do what’s right, not what’s easy”, as the company’s mission statement goes.
So I was surprised when my pharmacist informed me, months after those apologies had faded from the headlines, that I would still need to pay $609 for a box of two EpiPens. Didn’t we solve this problem? Not quite.What’s more, Mylan is back in the news. On Wednesday, regulators said the company had most likely overcharged Medicaid by $1.27 billion for EpiPens. The same day, a group of pension funds announced that they hoped to unseat much of Mylan’s board for “new lows in corporate stewardship”, including paying the chairman $97 million in 2016, more than the salaries of the chief executives at Disney, General Electric and Wal-Mart combined.
Over the past several weeks, I’ve spoken with 10 former highranking executives at Mylan who told me they weren’t surprised EpiPen prices were still high. Nor were many startled by last week’s developments.
Mylan is a prime example of how easy it is for leaders to say one thing publicly and act differently in private. And Mylan’s behaviour persists because it is hard – and often tedious – for both employees and the public to continue complaining.
But hope springs eternal. With the recent criticisms coming on the heels of last year’s controversies, Mylan will have to change, right?
Perhaps. But only if people stay angry and active. Doctors need to write different prescriptions. Pharmacists need to guide patients to alternatives. Investors should examine further efforts to elect new Mylan board members.
In the meantime, I still believe – perhaps foolishly – that sustained attention might create change.