Mylan CEO: 55% of EpiPen price goes toward insurers, pharmacy benefit managers

Mackenzie Bean (Twitter) -

Mylan CEO Heather Bresch continues to defend the high cost of EpiPens by pointing out that middlemen in the drug's supply chain take 55 percent of the medication's list price, according to Health Affairs.

Of the drug's $608 list price, Ms. Bresch claims Canonsburg, Pa.-based Mylan only receives $274 per two-pack sold, or 45 percent. She says the remaining $334, or 55 percent, goes to pharmacy benefit managers, insurers, wholesalers and pharmacy retailers.

Ms. Bresch believes that when Mylan raises the price of a drug, it is not the drugmaker but these middlemen who are to blame for high drug costs, since they consequently raise the price patients must pay for the treatment through insurance premiums or at the pharmacy counter, according to the report.

She highlights the inefficiency of the drug industry's current distribution system and said that "congress and other leaders of this country need to quit putting their toe in this topic and really fix this system," the report states.

 

More articles on supply chain:

New York attorney general investigates Mylan over potential antitrust violations in school contracts
Weighing the cost of care: How hospitals accommodate obese patients
Is Mylan really the bad guy? 4 thoughts from a leading healthcare strategist on the big picture of pharma price hikes

 

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