Days After Duckworth's Request, House Oversight Committee Calls Hearing On EpiPen And Other Prescription Price Hikes

Press Release

Just days after House Oversight & Government Reform Committee Member Tammy Duckworth (IL-08), along with Congressman Peter Welch (VT-AL), called for a Congressional investigation into the astronomical price hikes of several lifesaving prescription drugs including EpiPens, Chairman Jason Chaffetz (UT-03) announced a hearing will be held tomorrow. The CEO of EpiPen manufacturer Mylan Pharmaceuticals, Heather Bresch, will testify at the Wednesday hearing, which will look into the company's revenues, costs and whether it receives government assistance through federal health care programs.

"Recent indefensible price hikes for EpiPens and other lifesaving medications underscore the cost of leaving corporate greed unchecked: when people can't afford the medications they or their children need, lives are at risk," said Congresswoman Duckworth. "We called for this hearing to shed light on how these outrageous prices have been set and, hopefully, offer solutions to prevent similar price-gouging in the future. I'm relieved the Chairman has recognized the need for this hearing."

Countless parents rely on EpiPen auto-injectors to keep their children with severe allergies alive in emergencies, and if the medication is made unaffordable lives could be put at risk. Last month, Mylan announced yet another steep price hike to the lifesaving drug, the price of which has now risen more than 500% since it was acquired by Mylan less than a decade ago.

"Prescription drugs can be life-saving and pain-reliving, but the skyrocketing prices are killing consumers," Congressman Welch said. "Meanwhile, big pharmaceutical corporations are raking in record profits. It is a bipartisan responsibility to ensure no parent has to lose a child because they can't afford medication. I look forward to working with my Committee colleagues to find bipartisan solutions to fix this broken market."

Earlier this month, Duckworth also asked the U.S. Department of Justice to initiate a federal antitrust review of potentially illegal anticompetitive practices committed by Mylan Pharmaceuticals through its EpiPen4Schools program. The program offered discounted epinephrine auto-injectors--which schools in many states including Illinois are required keep on premises in case of emergency--to schools in exchange for agreeing not to purchase the medication from Mylan competitors for a period of 12 months.

"Mylan's EpiPen4Schools Program may unreasonably suppress competition using aggressive, anticompetitive contractual stipulations that prohibit local educational agencies from purchasing a competitor's product," wrote Duckworth in her letter to U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch at the time. "Combined with Mylan's market dominant status, such exclusionary contract requirements threaten to unreasonably restrain competition and may promote an unlawful monopoly in the market for these types of products."

Agreements that offer discounted pricing in exchange for not purchasing competing products may constitute a violation of federal antitrust laws when used by companies that already have dominant market share, as they could very well hinder competition in the marketplace. Mylan reportedly held an 89% share of the epinephrine auto-injector market when it asked schools to sign such agreements.

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