Price-gouging Maker of EpiPen Literally Said That Critics Can Go Fuck Themselves (gizmodo.com)

Back in August of 2016, the pharmaceutical company Mylan came under fire for jacking up prices of the EpiPen from $57 in 2007 to roughly $600 in 2016. The public backlash has been significant. Gizmodo adds: But the chairman of Mylan has a message for any critics: Go fuck yourself. Well, at least that's what we think he said. The New York Times has a new article about the fact that prices for the live-saving allergy medication haven't actually come down since last year. And the article has a rather strange way of describing the attitude of Mylan chairman Robert Coury. This is how the New York Times describes Coury's reaction to critics of Mylan's price gouging: "Mr. Coury replied that he was untroubled. He raised both his middle fingers and explained, using colorful language, that anyone criticizing Mylan, including its employees, ought to go copulate with themselves. Critics in Congress and on Wall Street, he said, should do the same. And regulators at the Food and Drug Administration? They, too, deserved a round of anatomically challenging self-fulfillment."

Comments

Government should just drop the product.

[jellomizer]

The epipen isn't the only player in the market, its popularity is due to schools support for it, as an easy way to administer the drug. If it is too expensive the schools should consider a replacement. And have this guy just blame critics in the poor house with a stack of epipens that he will sell at a loss.

Re:Government should just drop the product.

[Anonymous Coward]

That'd be all good and well, if there weren't patents preventing other players from entering the market.

Perhaps patents shouldn't last as ridiculously long for devices that save lives... ... just a thought.

I'm all for companies being paid to make up for R&D costs, but sometimes common sense should be observed.

Re:Government should just drop the product.

[russotto]

Yeah, the whole epi-pen thing is blatant rent-seeking. Get your product legally required, get alternatives stuck in regulatory and patent limbo, jack up the price and rake in the bucks.

Re:Government should just drop the product.

[Archangel Michael]

I didn't vote for the "Republican" guys either. I'm just pointing out, that people that like to equate (R) with evil and corrupt every time some Chairman of some company is Republican and does something evil, are the same people who make excuses when it is a (D) doing it.

Your case just proves my point. When everything the left hates is "Political" and when it is something that shines poorly upon the (D), it is "Get Fucked trying to make this political".

Being a Libertarian, I understand the dangers of political manipulation of the Economy, at both the micro and macro points of the model. I am actually probably, on your side on this one. However, my solution isn't "more government control" and "Regulation" it is less. You see, since the whole problem was caused by government regulation in the first place (half dozen key regulations in fact). But that doesn't work for liberals who think that the first and only solution to a problem is "MOAR GOVERNMENT".

And here is a key fact, there are other ways to administer Epinephrine besides EpiPen. In fact there are several "open source" style kits out there that do the same kind of thing, for a whole lot less money.

http://www.consumerreports.org...
http://spectrum.ieee.org/the-h...

Instead of whining about EpiPen costs, vote with your dollars and get the less expensive version of your choice. And ask that the Government deregulate the mandates to use EpiPens.

The key to power is information and choice. Government regulations that remove "choices" are to blame here. But so is being lazy, and not getting the information you need to make the choices you could be making.