Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal is taking on the Manchin family drug racket, introducing legislation to combat price gouging on EpiPens by drug giant Mylan. Blumenthal pointed to the fact that nearly six million families in the U.S. need the drug, which can cost as much as $600-$700 for a two-pack, and said that Mylan’s monopoly on EpiPens has caused prices to soar.
Manchin’s ties to Mylan run deep. His daughter is CEO of the company, his campaign’s senior advisor is their lobbyist and Mylan is his biggest campaign donor. And the Manchin family got rich off of Mylan’s EpiPen price gouging. His daughter’s salary rose to $19 million as the company hiked prices and Manchin’s wife spearheaded a national push to require schools to purchase the product. Meanwhile, as Congress investigated Mylan, Joe Manchin urged his colleagues to be “open-minded.”
“Even Joe Manchin’s Democrat colleagues are disgusted at his family’s price gouging of children with severe allergies,” said NRSC Spokesman Bob Salera. “Manchin is supposed to be looking out for West Virginia families, not running interference for his daughter’s drug company.”
Background:
Mylan’s CEO, Heather Bresch, is the daughter of Senator Joe Manchin. “The growing congressional scrutiny of pharmaceutical giant Mylan over the high cost of EpiPens could prove awkward for Sen. Joe Manchin. The West Virginia Democrat’s daughter, Heather Bresch, is chief executive of the company, which appears to have hiked the price of the epinephrine auto-injector by 400 percent since 2007. The device, which is used to treat severe allergic reactions, now costs more than $600 per dose.” (Catherine Ho, “CEO at center of EpiPen price hike controversy is Sen. Joe Manchin’s daughter,” Washington Post, 8/24/16)
Manchin’s campaign senior advisor, Larry Puccio, is a lobbyist for Mylan. “Larry Puccio will serve as senior adviser to the campaign…Puccio also is registered as a lobbyist according to the West Virginia Ethics Commission, which has directories of registered lobbyists on its website dating back to a 2009-2010 period. As reported in the register for the 2017-2018 registration period dated Oct. 10, Puccio represents multiple interests in his lobbying work, including the Greenbrier Resort, Mylan Inc., Frontier Communications, FirstEnergy and the West Virginia Press Association.” (Alex Thomas, “Manchin announces 2018 campaign staff,” MetroNews, 10/18/17)
As Mylan hiked the price of EpiPens from $100 to $600, Manchin’s daughter’s salary rose from $2.4 million to nearly $19 million. “Last year, Mylan CEO Heather Bresch was chided by lawmakers for her compensation, which rose sharply in recent years, largely in step with the price of EpiPens. In 2015, her compensation reached nearly $19 million, up from $2.4 million in 2007, which was when Mylan purchased the rights to EpiPen and began raising prices. The devices went from nearly $100 for a two-pack to a little over $600. The company earned $1.1 billion in revenue from the devices in 2015.” (Beth Mole, “Amid outrage and tumbling stocks, Mylan’s chairman pocketed $97M,” Ars Technica, 5/2/17)
As Mylan was investigated by Congress, Manchin encouraged his colleagues to be “open-minded and fair.” “Heather Bresch, Manchin’s daughter and Mylan’s chief executive officer, has come under fire from lawmakers, including many of his fellow Democrats, for her pricing decisions on the life-saving anti-allergy drug…‘The only thing you can ask is that people be open-minded and fair,’ Manchin said.” (Steven T. Dennis, “Mylan CEO Behind EpiPen Price Furor Praised by Senator Father,” Bloomberg Politics, 9/7/16)
As Mylan raised its prices, Manchin’s wife, Gayle Manchin, spearheaded an effort to require schools to buy the product. “After Gayle Manchin took over the National Association of State Boards of Education in 2012, she spearheaded an unprecedented effort that encouraged states to require schools to purchase medical devices that fight life-threatening allergic reactions…The CEO of Mylan then, and now, was Heather Bresch. Gayle Manchin is Heather Bresch’s mother…Mylan is the subject of congressional investigations related to huge price hikes the company announced last month. It also faces an antitrust probe by the New York attorney general stemming from its EpiPen sales contracts with schools.” (Jayne O’Donnell, “Family matters: EpiPens had high-level help getting into schools,” USA Today, 9/20/16)