{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.baldwin.senate.gov/press-releases/questions-for-mylan-epipen", "Senators Have New Questions for Mylan About EpiPen Price Hike, Pricing Strategy", "2016-11-02", "2016", "2016-11", "Democrat", "House", "WI", "Tammy Baldwin", "B001230", "www.baldwin.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "11.02.16\n\t\t\t Senators Have New Questions for Mylan About EpiPen Price Hike, Pricing Strategy \n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t \n\t\n\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n        \n\t\t\t\t Company\u2019s previous response left unanswered questions about EpiPen pricing impact on consumers, taxpayers, and insurance premiums\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t WASHINGTON, D.C \u2013 In a 13-page letter sent to the CEO of pharmaceutical company Mylan, 17 senators requested additional information about the company's recent EpiPen Auto-Injector (EpiPen) price increases and how Mylan's pricing strategy affects consumers, taxpayers, and insurance premiums. The letter follows a previous request for information made in August about the EpiPen price hike. The letter was signed by Senators Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Barbara Boxer (D-CA), Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Richard J. Durbin (D-Ill.), Al Franken (D-Minn.), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Mazie K. Hirono (D-HI), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Edward J. Markey (D-MA), Chris Murphy (D-CT), Jack Reed (D-RI), Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Tom Udall (D-NM), and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI).\r\nMylan\u2019s response to the August letter revealed that:\r\n \r\nMylan\u2019s My EpiPen Savings Card and Patient Assistance Program do not help the vast majority of EpiPen users \u2013 in fact, the free product provided through the Patient Assistance Program touted by Mylan represents less than 1% of all EpiPens sold.\r\nThe majority of EpiPen\u2019s cost increases appear to have been borne by taxpayers, via higher costs for programs like Medicare and Medicaid, and by employers and insured patients, via higher premiums.\r\nMylan\u2019s pricing system is complex and non-transparent, allowing the company to segregate consumers into different categories, charging different prices to different customers while shielding some customers from price increases and shifting costs to others.\r\n \r\nMylan, however, failed to provide important information needed to put these findings in context.\u00a0 The senators explained in today\u2019s letter to Mylan that they \u201cremain frustrated with both the lack of information and lack of clarity in your response, and your insistence that you are not aware of basic facts about sales of your own drug to Medicaid and Medicare Part D.\u201d\r\nThe letter seeks additional information on Mylan\u2019s pricing strategy, particularly after Mylan provided information revealing a significant gap between the listed Wholesale Acquisition Cost for EpiPen and what consumers actually pay, and that the company is manipulating prices in order to maximize its revenue. \u201cMylan appears to be engaging in practices that shield some consumers from price increases and high deductibles while shifting these costs\u2014both directly and indirectly\u2014to others.\u00a0 The net result of this process is profitable for Mylan\u2014but these increased revenues come at a significant cost to consumers and taxpayers.\u201d\u00a0\r\nThe letter requests that Mylan provide answers to a series of questions about its pricing strategies for four different groups of customers \u2013 the uninsured, Medicated patients, Medicare patients, and patients with employer or Affordable Care Act insurance coverage \u2013 and how the company\u2019s approach to pricing affects its revenue and patient access to the EpiPen.\r\nIn September, Senator Baldwin introduced bipartisan and bicameral legislation with Senator John McCain (R-AZ) and Representative Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) to require transparency and accountability for drug corporations that increase prescription drug prices. Specifically, the Fair Accountability and Innovative Research (FAIR) Drug Pricing Act would require drug manufacturers to notify the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and submit a transparency and justification report 30 days before they increase the price of certain drug products by more than 10 percent. The report will require manufacturers to provide a justification for each price increase, manufacturing, research and development costs for the qualifying drug, net profits attributable to the qualifying drug, marketing and advertising spending on the qualifying drug, and other information as deemed appropriate. The bill will not prohibit manufacturers from increasing prices, but it will, for the first time, give taxpayers notice of price increases and bring basic transparency to the market for prescription drugs.\r\nA copy of the letter the senators sent is available here.\u00a0\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\n\t  \n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t \n\t\t\n\t\t\tPrint\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\tEmail\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\tTweet\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t \n\t\n\t\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n    \n\t\n\t\n    \n    \n    \n    \t\n    \t\n\t    \t  \n\t\t    \n\t\t    \tNext Press Release\n\t\t    \n\t\t    \n\t\t    \tPrevious Press Release", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.baldwin.senate.gov/press-releases/questions-for-mylan-epipen"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.1514006182551384, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}