EpiPen maker racking up taxpayer dollars

The share of Mylan’s revenue from government programs such as Medicaid and Medicare rose 30 percentage points from 23.3 percent in 2011 to 53.4 percent in 2015, the Iowa Republican’s office found.

“Total government charges for EpiPens increased 463 percent while EpiPen unit sales at large increased only 51 percent from 2011 to 2015,” a statement from Grassley said.

Mylan has drawn bipartisan anger for raising the price of the EpiPen by 400 percent since acquiring it in 2007. The price tag now runs $600 for a two-pack of the life-saving drug.

And lawmakers from both parties have been pressing for answers on whether Mylan, the maker of EpiPen, has been bilking Medicaid for years by paying a lower rebate.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services told lawmakers earlier this week that Mylan has been misclassifying its drugs for years under Medicaid’s rebate program.

Under Medicaid’s criteria, Mylan’s EpiPen is a brand name drug as it has patent protection and no competition. However, the EpiPen has been classified as a generic drug since 1997. That means that Mylan, which bought the EpiPen in 2007, doesn’t have to pay as big of a rebate for a generic as opposed to a brand-name product.

Grassley pointed out that the revenue from government programs is beyond the over-charging for Medicaid misclassification.

“For whatever reason, Mylan’s results indicate it found more success selling EpiPens through government programs than through the private insurance market,” Grassley said.

He also questioned whether the Food and Drug Administration has been able to approve generic drug applications quickly enough. In addition, Grassley asked if brand-name manufacturers are able to game the FDA approval process to delay generic drug approvals.

Grassley also criticized CMS about the Mylan misclassification, saying it is “unclear what steps it took to challenge the misclassification. The agency has the authority to impose penalties in misclassification cases.”