Prompt #7: Contemplating Controversy: "EpiPen"

Contemplating Controversy: Mylan's "EpiPen"

An ongoing controversy that challenges a company’s ethics when it comes to how much a company should profit off a product people will buy regardless of price. Mylan is a pharmaceutical company that has been under scrutiny recently. This is due to their signature product "EpiPen" and their pricing strategies involved with this product.

Mylan acquired "EpiPens" in 2007 from a company called Merck. Sheldon Kaplan invented the first auto-injector filled with a nerve antidote in the mid- 1970s for the US military. Around that same time he also created an auto-injector for civilians to help with anaphylaxis. Anaphylaxis is a severe allergic reaction which causes a drop in blood pressure and airways to close. This can be mild or fatal. The EpiPen was finally approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 1987. A pre-loaded adrenaline filled syringe was easy to use, and would deliver the life saving dose quickly and even through clothes. This was very practical for any consumer because the pen could be applied regardless of medical training. Through Mylan’s marketing strategies, the EpiPen brand became very well known to people with severe allergies just as we know “Kleenex” or “Band-Aids”.  The number of EpiPen users has grown 67% over the past seven years and the price has increased as well. (This is where the controversy comes in)

The Controversy.

CBS reported last January that the CEO of Mylan Heather Bresch was called to congress to explain why the EpiPen's price has soared over the past few years. In 2009, a EpiPen pack would cost the average consumer without any health insurance $103.50. In 2016, that same consumer would pay $608.61, and the price keeps going up. According to Time, the production of one EpiPen Pack costs a little under $20 per pen to produce and ship to customers. So why is there such a difference between the cost of production and the retail

price? That is what congress is currently trying to find out. All of this negative publicity toward Mylan has brought up an important question some companies have to face, how much should a company profit from goods consumers will buy regardless of the price. Mylan will continue raising the price because they are a publicly owned company and it is in the investor's best interest to keep profiting. Without "Price Ceilings" (maximum prices for a product allowed by the government) Mylan can continue to charge whatever they want to stay profitable. However, this does come with some negatives such as bad media coverage, boycotting of other products produced by Mylan, possible government intervention and many more. This seems like it is only getting more and more controversial, and only time will tell how this will be resolved.

-Written by Carson Breault