WASHINGTON – Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley and Ranking Member Patrick Leahy today are calling on the Federal Trade Commission to review Mylan Pharmaceuticals’ business practices with respect to EpiPens for possible anticompetitive behavior. The senators’ request follows news reports that Mylan engaged in exclusive contracts with schools, precluding them from purchasing products that compete with the auto-injector to treat severe allergic reactions.
“Increasing patient access to safe, effective and affordable medications has long been a shared priority of ours. We also share a strong belief that potential anti-competitive actions by drug industry participants must be aggressively investigated because of their impact on competition and drug costs,” the senators said in a letter to FTC Chairwoman Edith Ramirez. “The FTC’s role in preserving a competitive marketplace and protecting consumers is critical, and due to the dramatic increase of the price of drugs across the board, the FTC should be vigilant in its scrutiny of this market.”
Mylan has come under recent scrutiny for dramatic increases in the price of EpiPen and revelations that Mylan misclassified EpiPen in the Medicaid Drug Rebate Program, allowing the company to pay lower rebates than it should have.
The Judiciary Committee has scheduled a hearing to explore a reported settlement agreement between the Justice Department and Mylan related to the misclassification issue.
Grassley and Leahy were joined by Senators Amy Klobuchar, Richard Blumenthal and Ron Johnson in an earlier request to the Food and Drug Administration for details on its approval of generic equivalents to EpiPen, which could provide a more affordable alternative and lower EpiPen’s price through expanded competition.
Full text of Grassley and Leahy’s letter
