Wow. There is noway such strategies are not sanctioned at the top level. It would be interesting to see the CEO charged with malicious prosecution (which is not limited to criminal justice proceedings but includes fraudulent tort claims and suchlike).
Of note: the CEO of Mylan, Heather Bresch, is also the daughter of the senior senator representing West Virginia, Joe Manchin, who was also the governor of the state from 2005-2010. Joe's wife (and Heather's mother) Gayle Manchin took over as the head of the National Association of State Boards of Education in 2012, and helped push through the 'EpiPen Law' in 2013 that gave funding preference to schools that stocked them. [0]
It gets even better (Mylan is in my hometown), from Wikipedia [1]:
"In 2007..the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported that Bresch had claimed to have an MBA degree from West Virginia University, but the university disputed that. The university subsequently awarded her an EMBA despite her having completed only 26 of the required 48 credits. Her father was governor of the state of West Virginia at the time.
In the ensuing controversy, the university announced in April 2008 that it would rescind Bresch's degree. Michael Garrison, WVU President at the time, was reported to be "a family friend and former business associate of Bresch" and a former consultant and lobbyist for Mylan. After a faculty vote of no confidence, Garrison and several university officials subsequently resigned."
He's a democrat, it took just a second to look up. I don't know why you didn't just post that. Sleazy people in both parties - shocking news for no one.
Wow! Hospital supplies, prescription drugs and many other health care markets are effectively un-enterable by new innovative entrants through similar kinds of illegal, anti-competitive arrangements....probably one of the reasons we haven't seen a YC hospital supply startup... '
"EpiPen’s sales and expanded markets brought in more than $1 billion in revenue for Mylan."
"The company’s CEO, Heather Bresch, is one of the highest-paid CEOs in the industry, earning nearly $19 million annually."
"Mylan...had...illegal deals with schools to undercut competitors and allegedly scammed federal and state regulators out of millions..."
Actually, a good friend of mine just filed for a patent on a widget which will directly cut into Mylar's epipen sales. It's gonna be a tough startup, I'm sure, but he's doing it.
True, it doesn't account for Mylan's price. That mostly reflects anticompetitive behavior. But even the least expensive versions cost much more than multidose bottles and syringes.
Aren't those patents expired already? And there is competition after all. The point of the article was attempts to blackmail states to ban competitors without actually having legal basis for it.
Well, adrenaline certainly isn't under patent. But I believe that the delivery tech is.
And yes, Mylan has gone over the top in market manipulation. They're among the worst. It's rather like they've applied "Big Coal" corporate philosophy applied to drugs.
I don't think Mylan's behaviour is acceptable here, but there is something to be said about being able to patent a safe delivery mechanism for any type of medicine... that in itself isn't necessarily wrong.
Most of the "safety" in the delivery tech lies in the fact that there's only one dose of drug in the dispenser. Or, er, all of the safety? It's not an enormous achievement.
Hell, Mylan even has a competitor that made their own dispenser to avoid the patent, but ... now there are two of them playing largely the same game.
The hurdle here is FDA approval, not the innovation of delivery mechanisms. These are all relatively simple injectors, whose primary value lies in being single-dose.
It seems that it would uncontroversial and acceptable to both sides of Congress if they pursued creating a legal framework for making this sort of activity both illegal and with meaningful punishment. We can ban people from playing baseball for life, why not ban them from participating in the healthcare community?
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[ 3.3 ms ] story [ 58.6 ms ] threadMuch like fish, the head tends to rot first.
0: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2016/09/20/fami...
"In 2007..the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported that Bresch had claimed to have an MBA degree from West Virginia University, but the university disputed that. The university subsequently awarded her an EMBA despite her having completed only 26 of the required 48 credits. Her father was governor of the state of West Virginia at the time.
In the ensuing controversy, the university announced in April 2008 that it would rescind Bresch's degree. Michael Garrison, WVU President at the time, was reported to be "a family friend and former business associate of Bresch" and a former consultant and lobbyist for Mylan. After a faculty vote of no confidence, Garrison and several university officials subsequently resigned."
[1]https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heather_Bresch
It would be great if we could clean house and replace those acting in bad faith.
If you win, you become richer. If you lose, you... Lose your job at the state capitol?
I thought we had laws against this kind of obvious crap.
Happy now?
https://davidkellogg.files.wordpress.com/2015/12/oracle-org-...
"EpiPen’s sales and expanded markets brought in more than $1 billion in revenue for Mylan." "The company’s CEO, Heather Bresch, is one of the highest-paid CEOs in the industry, earning nearly $19 million annually." "Mylan...had...illegal deals with schools to undercut competitors and allegedly scammed federal and state regulators out of millions..."
And yes, Mylan has gone over the top in market manipulation. They're among the worst. It's rather like they've applied "Big Coal" corporate philosophy applied to drugs.
Hell, Mylan even has a competitor that made their own dispenser to avoid the patent, but ... now there are two of them playing largely the same game.
The hurdle here is FDA approval, not the innovation of delivery mechanisms. These are all relatively simple injectors, whose primary value lies in being single-dose.