Mylan CEO Heather Bresch testifies Wednesday before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform regarding her company’s EpiPen price increases.
Members of Congress took turns Wednesday questioning and criticizing Heather Bresch, the CEO of Mylan Pharmaceuticals, for the inflated cost of EpiPens, her increased executive compensation and the company’s failure to provide financial information to the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.
The bipartisan group of lawmakers rebuked Bresch, who is the daughter of Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., for her company increasing the price of the life-saving drug by hundreds of dollars since 2007.
The hearing came after more than a month in which Mylan and Bresch have come under fire for the price hike. As a result, U.S. senators have called for an investigation by the Federal Trade Commission, and the attorney general of New York opened an investigation into the company.
At times, the highly anticipated hearing on Wednesday became heated as members of the committee cut off Bresch and reprimanded her for not directly answering their questions.
“Looking back, I wish we had better anticipated the magnitude and acceleration of the rising financial issues for a growing minority of patients,” Bresch said as part of her prepared statements.
“You never anticipated this?” Utah Rep. Jason Chaffetz, the Republican chairman of the committee said. “You raised the price. What did you think was going to happen?”
Rep. John Duncan, R-Tenn., called the price increases for EpiPens “astounding, sickening and disgusting.” Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton, D-D.C., questioned what Bresch could have done to deserve a 671 percent pay increase since 2007.
As CEO, Bresch made $18.9 million last year.
Maryland Rep. Elijah Cummings, the ranking Democratic member of the House committee, compared Bresch to Martin Shkreli, the former CEO of Turing Pharmaceuticals, which was criticized by the same committee earlier this year for buying a 62-year-old drug that treated parasitic infections and increasing the price from $13.50 to $750 per pill.
“I’m concerned this is a rope-a-dope strategy,” Cummings said. “Today, we will hold yet another hearing where the industry will take their punches, but then they go right ahead and keep raising their prices.
“After Mylan takes our punches,” Cummings said, “they will fly back to their mansions in their private jets and laugh all the way to the bank.”
Cummings later questioned Bresch on why Mylan had not provided Congress with a year-by-year breakdown of the profits that the company made from EpiPen, as the committee had requested
Bresch did not have a direct answer.
“I feel like you’re not giving me answers, ma’am,” Cummings said at a later point. “In fairness to us, you knew what this hearing was about. You knew what our concerns were.”
Members of the committee took issue with both of those company efforts. They questioned why Mylan did not just cut the price of the EpiPens, instead of offering rebates that save consumers money but still require public and private insurance providers to pay for their share of the cost.
Chaffetz pushed Bresch to answer whether the new $300 generic version of EpiPen was any different than the full-priced $600 injection device. He pressured her about whether Mylan would actually make more money from selling the generic directly to consumers.
“The only thing you changed was the name,” Chaffetz said. “This is why we don’t believe you.”
The committee also gave Bresch a chance to explain recent news about her mother’s role in pushing for EpiPens in schools.
A USA Today story reported that Gayle Manchin, the former president of the West Virginia state school board, used her position at the National Association of State Boards of Education to push policies that expanded access to EpiPens in schools. The story said those policies helped Mylan “develop a near monopoly in school nurses’ offices.”
“Can you explain or clarify, from your own vantage point, the role that your mother played in this whole process?” Chaffetz asked during the hearing.
“The article is completely inaccurate,” Bresch said.
“I certainly thought this was a very cheap shot to bring my mother into this,” she added later.
Gayle Manchin responded to that national story on Tuesday.
“As a mother, grandmother, and educator, my first concern is the life and well-being of all children,” Manchin said.
“My only concern and motivation, was, and always will be, how we can protect as many children as possible,” she added.
Reach Andrew Brown at [email protected], 304-348-4814 or follow @Andy_Ed_Brown on Twitter.
