EpiPen Maker’s Stock Fell, Chairman Made Hundreds of Millions
May 2, 2017
As EpiPen Maker’s Stock Fell, Mylan’s Chairman Made Hundreds of Millions
Statement of Peter Maybarduk, Director of Public Citizen’s Access to Medicines Program
Note: Public reports indicate that Mylan chairman Robert Coury received an outlandish compensation package in 2016, a year in which the company’s stock fell 29 percent after it price gouged its customers for the essential EpiPen allergy device.
Something is deeply wrong at Mylan. It is horrifying that Mylan would pay out $164 million to an executive while millions of people struggle needlessly from the drug corporation price gouging them on EpiPen. Indeed, Robert Coury’s obscene pay seems to be a direct result of the price gouging; a thank you from Mylan to its chair for spiking the price of an old medicine by 600 percent and holding the healthcare of millions of ransom.
It is time for our government to step in and discipline corporations and executives that profit outrageously and live lavishly precisely because they make it harder for the rest of us to afford the medicine we need.
The Improving Access to Affordable Prescription Drugs Act (the Affordable Meds Act) recently introduced by U.S. Senators Al Franken (D-Minn.), Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) and colleagues in the House and Senate includes a provision that would deter and penalize precisely the sort of price spikes that produced the EpiPen outrage.
Public Citizen recently surveyed the top pharmaceutical corporations and found that very few will commit to limiting annual price spikes over 10 percent – meaning we are due for more EpiPen-style outrages unless our government steps in.
President Donald Trump has told us that drug corporations are ‘getting away with murder’ and that prices must come down. He should make good on his campaign pledge and support the Affordable Meds Act to help make medicines affordable for all.
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