In defense of Heather Bresch: She did everything right as Mylan CEO, but still …; Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 10/6/16

Chris Allison, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette; In defense of Heather Bresch: She did everything right as Mylan CEO, but still … :

"Were the actions of Ms. Bresch and her management team legal? Yes. Were they reasonable, given her mandate from Mylan’s board of directors and the company’s shareholders? Yes.

But, just because actions comply with the law and fall within the norms of sound business practices, that doesn’t mean a company should take them...

In my lectures on corporate ethics, I tell students that, when they face an ethical crossroads in business, they should ask themselves two questions. Would they feel proud to have their decision and its outcome featured on the front page of the newspapers? Would they be happy telling their children what they had done as they tucked them into bed at night?

Heather Bresch and other folks at Mylan didn’t do anything wrong. But they should have asked themselves those questions."

Members Of Congress Rip Into Mylan CEO; Huffington Post, 9/21/16

Lauren Weber, Huffington Post; Members Of Congress Rip Into Mylan CEO:

"“To have companies like yours take advantage of the situation, take advantage of these people who are really in need of this medication, I think it speaks to something that we are better than that,” Rep. Lacy Clay (D-Mo.) said. “How did we get to this point that we have a culture like this in corporate America that wants to stick it to consumers?”...

Cummings emphasized his disgust that pharmaceutical companies would continue to ratchet up drug prices for life-saving medication and said he hoped Bresch would apologize. She did not.

“After Mylan takes our punches, they’ll fly back to their mansions in their private jets and laugh all the way to the bank while our constituents suffer, file for bankruptcy, and watch their children get sicker and die,” Cummings said. “It’s time for Congress to act.”"

Behind the EpiPen controversy are questions about patents granted to drugmaker; St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 9/4/16

Samantha Liss, St. Louis Post-Dispatch; Behind the EpiPen controversy are questions about patents granted to drugmaker:

"Drugmaker Mylan NV has received the brunt of criticism for alleged price-gouging on the lifesaving EpiPen, but other factors — and players — contributed to the monopoly it enjoys today, say experts familiar with the drug industry.

First approved in 1987, the EpiPen is protected from competition until 2025 by four patents. Three of those patents were awarded within the last six years."

Drugs And Privilege: Big Business, Congress And The EpiPen; Huffington Post, 8/31/16

Michael Winship, Huffington Post; Drugs And Privilege: Big Business, Congress And The EpiPen:

"[Mylan CEO Heather Bresch] should resign for price gouging rather than get a raise, but like so many of her fellow executives Bresch sails serenely on as her fellow Americans drown in health care debt. Her career and the success of her company epitomize everything that so enrages every voter who believes that the fix is in and that the system is weighted in favor of those with big money and serious connections...

And even at half-price, the cost of an EpiPen remains an outrage. In fact, some estimate that the dose of epinephrine used in the injector may really cost as little as a dollar.

In other words, this is one more, big old scam — yet another case of big business trying to pull the wool over the citizens’ eyes and pick our pockets while the government and our politicians mostly look the other way.

The Mylan mess is the cozy relationship between regulators and the regulated in a nutshell. Throughout government, politics and business, cash contributions are made, connections are used, strings are pulled and favors are requested and returned. So the system wins again, corrupt as hell.

But take notice. Realize that the rest of us are more and more aware of how we’re being had — and that we truly must be heard and heeded. Unless the tiny-hearted, gold-digging CEOs of America’s corporations and our leaders get the dollar signs out of their eyes and come to their senses, they are writing a prescription for an angry public response that not even their bought-and-paid-for Congress can hold at bay."

EpiPen furor brings protesters to Mylan’s headquarters; Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 8/31/16

Patricia Sabatini, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette; EpiPen furor brings protesters to Mylan’s headquarters:

"Roughly two dozen people led by the watchdog group Public Citizen gathered outside to express disgust over the skyrocketing cost of the auto-injector whose price has surged some 500 percent in recent years. Hundreds of thousands of people have signed on to petitions backing that view, and the group delivered the piles of paper to prove it...

Several protesters, including retired state senator Jim Ferlo, criticized Mylan for paying CEO Heather Bresch nearly $19 million last year funded in part by collecting “super profits” on the EpiPen. “I consider this morally repugnant behavior by this CEO,” Mr. Ferlo said...

Earlier, Mr. Ferlo and others called on Congress to enact reforms to ensure that expensive life-saving medications, including cancer and hepatitis drugs, can be afforded by everyone who needs them.

“Health care is a human right,” said Ed Grystar, chair of the Western Pennsylvania Coalition for Single-Payer Healthcare."

Who is to blame for the EpiPen hike? Drug monopolies – not evil CEOs; Guardian, 8/29/16

Colin Holtz, Guardian; Who is to blame for the EpiPen hike? Drug monopolies – not evil CEOs:

"Instead of playing whack-a-mole, we need to break the monopolies themselves.

Many companies have effectively outsourced their R&D to federally funded academic research. Under existing law, federal funding of R&D requires companies to offer the medicine on “reasonable terms”. If they do not, we can demand generic versions for federal programs like VA hospitals, and pay a royalty in return. Or, we can simply break the patent for everyone.

In fact, we may not be limited to publicly funded pharmaceuticals. The federal government technically has the power to suspend a patent altogether. In 2003, the Bush administration threatened the maker of anthrax medicine Cipro with exactly that power.

Moving forward, all new patents could include far-stricter cost protections that link prices to median income. Or, if you prefer a more flexible system, you could incentivize innovation with hefty cash prizes, but place the resulting drugs in the public domain."

"Sticker Shock"; robrogers, 8/26/16

Rob Rogers, robrogers.com; "Sticker Shock"

A Call For Mylan CEO Heather Bresch To Reduce EpiPen Price And Resign; Huffington Post, 8/24/16

Andrew B. Palumbo, Huffington Post; A Call For Mylan CEO Heather Bresch To Reduce EpiPen Price And Resign:

"The EpiPen’s only legitimate U.S. competitor, Sanofi’s Auvi-Q, was voluntarily recalled nationwide in October 2015 after dangerous issues of inaccurate dosage delivery arose that could include a failure to administer the life-saving epinephrine. Immediately, millions of families with life threatening allergies turned to Mylan to secure EpiPens.

The result was a de facto monopoly for Mylan. Since Mylan secured the rights to the EpiPen in 2007, they have steadily raised prices over 460 percent (from an average wholesale of $56.64 to $317.82). CEO Heather Bresch – daughter of U.S. Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia – increased her own compensation by more than 670 percent from $2.5M to $18.9M during the same time.

With no other competitors in the United States, families are forced to pay extortionate rates for what amounts to $1.00 worth of epinephrine per EpiPen."

U.S. lawmakers demand investigation of $100 price hike of lifesaving EpiPens; Washington Post, 8/23/16

Ariana Eunjung Cha, Washington Post; U.S. lawmakers demand investigation of $100 price hike of lifesaving EpiPens:

"The medication itself isn’t expensive. Analysts calculate that the dosage contained in a single pen is worth about $1. It’s the company’s proprietary pen injector that makes up the bulk of the cost...

A profile in Fortune in 2015 described her rise in colorful terms:

Bresch, a 46-year-old who’s spent more than half her life at Mylan, has steered the company’s transformation from a quirky outfit run out of a West Virginia trailer to a global operator with 30,000 employees in 145 countries. Born into politics—her father, Joe Manchin, is a longtime West Virginia Democratic stalwart who’s now a U.S. senator—Bresch has mastered the regulatory world. Since becoming CEO in 2012, she’s overseen a major revenue increase; Mylan projects sales of up to $10.1 billion this year, up from $6.1 billion in 2011…

Under Bresch’s leadership, Mylan has also stumbled through a series of ethically messy mishaps and public relations gaffes. Mylan’s inversion took place just as uproar over the tactic reached a fever pitch on Capitol Hill. (Among the politicians who denounced the move was Bresch’s own father, though he later changed his mind.) Critics have called out the company for unusually high executive pay packages, questionable use of company jets, and murky relationships with board members. Then there’s “the Heather Bresch situation,” as she herself calls it, a scandal surrounding her executive MBA credentials—when you Google her name, the episode still ranks even higher than her official Mylan bio."

EpiPen’s 500 Percent Price Hike Leaves Patients Scrambling; Huffington Post, 8/18/16

Anna Almendrala, Huffington Post; EpiPen’s 500 Percent Price Hike Leaves Patients Scrambling:

"The EpiPen, an easy-to-use injectable shot filled with medicine that can stop a life-threatening allergic reaction, has increased in price from about $100 for a pack of two pens in 2009 to over $600 this year.

Pharmaceutical company Mylan purchased the rights to the pen back in 2007, and it appears that they’ve taken a page from “pharma bro” Martin Shkreli and re-priced their newly acquired product. That is, they’ve spiked prices for no apparent research and development reason related to the product, except perhaps to make up for the tens of millions of dollars they’ve spent on TV commercials to promote it, reports CBS news.

The price spike also coincides with the recall of one of EpiPen’s competitors, the Auvi-Q from the pharmaceutical company Sanofi US. The company recalled their pen in October because of inaccurate dosage issues...

Pharmaceutical watchdogs and politicians have weighed in on the price hike, pushing back on Mylan’s pricing scheme and calling for competitors to enter the market."