Republicans and Democrats on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee are demanding more information about the profit margins of the company that produces EpiPens, after the company appeared to downplay those profits at a hearing last month.
Chairman Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, and ranking member Elijah Cummings, D-Md., said in their letter to Mylan CEO Heather Bresch that when Bresch testified before Congress about profits from the device, she didn’t disclose that she was talking about profits realized after factoring in a 37.5 percent tax rate. That means her company makes even more money from EpiPens than many lawmakers realized.
“Failing to disclose tax assumptions that formed the basis for the $100 profit per pack claim, despite opportunities to do so before and during the hearing, raises questions,” Chaffetz and Cummings wrote in the letter.
Even during the Sept. 21 hearing, lawmakers said they doubted Bresch’s profit claim.
“You know, your numbers don’t add up,” Cummings said last month. “And it is extremely difficult to believe that you are making only $50 profit when you just increased the price by more than $100 per pen.”
The letter gave Bresch an Oct. 7 deadline to provide a long list of additional information about company profits, costs, tax rates and charitable contributions. Lawmakers are also demanding “communications referring to the difference in price” for EpiPens in the Netherlands and those sold in the United States.
The company has been under new scrutiny after massively increasing the cost of the EpiPen Auto-Injector, which is used to help people survive severe allergic reactions.
