At Hearing She Requested, Duckworth Grills EpiPen CEO Over Outrageous Prices & Anticompetitive Business Practices

Press Release

Congresswoman Tammy Duckworth (IL-08) today challenged EpiPen distributor Mylan Pharmaceutical's CEO Heather Bresch to explain her company's outrageous price increases for their EpiPen auto-injector, a lifesaving medication countless parents rely on to keep their children alive during severe allergic reactions, as well as potentially illegal anticompetitive practices Mylan committed through its EpiPen4Schools program. Duckworth questioned Ms. Bresch during a House Oversight & Government Reform Committee hearing the Congresswoman called for earlier this month, after she also asked for a federal review antitrust of the company's alleged illegal conduct. Video of the Congresswoman's questioning of Ms. Bresch is available here.

"Recent indefensible price hikes for EpiPens underscore the human 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. "Mylan's CEO may claim she's working to increase access to EpiPens, but elbowing out any and all competition sure is a strange way to show it. Mylan should be ashamed of their behavior, putting profit above people, and they should be held accountable. We needed today's hearing to shed light on how these outrageous prices have been set and seek solutions to prevent similar price-gouging in the future--but there's much more work to do."

Last month, Mylan announced yet another steep price hike to the medication, the price of which has now risen more than 500% since it was acquired by Mylan less than a decade ago. Making the medication unaffordable could very well put lives at risk. 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.

Source