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Why Did EpiPen Prices Increase? Ask Joe Manchin’s Daughter
Let’s discuss the woman responsible for the inflated cost of lifesaving medication
I’ve made my feelings towards Joe Manchin and his embrace of the role of obstacle to virtually any progress perfectly clear. He represents virtually everything that many of us on the left feel is wrong with the Democratic party, and the frustration only continues to grow as we get closer and closer to running out of time to get things done before midterm elections approach. That said, Joe Manchin isn’t the only one whose actions or lack thereof are having a negative impact on the American people.
According to recent reporting, documents show Joe Manchin’s daughter Heather Bresch, former President and CEO of Mylan, worked directly with the CEO of Pfizer to keep the price of EpiPens artificially high.
Ryan Grim with The Intercept writes:
“The documents also show Bresch approving a scheme to force customers, captured by the company’s monopoly, to purchase two EpiPens at once, regardless of medical need. The EpiPen is an auto-injectable device that injects epinephrine into the body and can be the difference between life or death for a person suffering a severe allergic reaction.
…Among the documents is an email sent on behalf of Bresch, who is the daughter of Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., to her counterpart at Pfizer, then-CEO Ian Read. In the email, sent in January 2011, Bresch confirms a previous discussion with Read in which she says that the two agreed that as part of a deal, Pfizer would disinvest from its EpiPen competitor, Adrenaclick. Eliminating its main competitor would then allow Mylan to continue raising its prices.”
So Heather Bresch monopolized the entire market around a lifesaving drug so her company could charge as much as it possibly could for the drug, but apparently, even that wasn’t enough? She then decided to force people to buy two EpiPens at a time. So as if the $600 wasn’t enough for an EpiPen that expires, she needed to ensure people were forced to buy more than one.
Hey, that’s capitalism at work baby.
Considering her father represents everything fundamentally wrong with the Democratic party…
