Senators: Was law broken by maker of EpiPen?
Star Tribune (Minneapolis) (TNS)
WASHINGTON
Several U.S. Senators have asked the Justice Department to determine whether Mylan Pharmaceuticals broke the law in classifying its brand name EpiPen as a generic device to lower rebates the company paid to Medicaid.
“Pharmaceutical companies are responsible for determining whether their products are innovator [i.e. brand name] or [noninnovator multiple source, i.e. generic] drugs,” Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, and Richard Blumenthal, D-Ct., wrote to Attorney General Loretta Lynch in a letter Wednesday.
“Companies can reap huge profits, at the expense of the states and taxpayers, by misclassifying innovator drugs.”
EpiPens, which are epinephrine-filled injectors, treat severe, sometimes life-threatening allergic reactions. Many children carry them. While experts said epinephrine is cheap and the auto-injector system is not costly to produce, Mylan has raised the cost of a two-pack of EpiPens from $100 in 2008 to $500 to $600 in 2016.
The company is obliged to pay rebates back to state administrators of the federal Medicaid program, which provides health coverage for low-income Americans.