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Turing Pharmaceutical Companies Ethical Essay

1000 Words4 Pages

Every year, pharmaceutical companies face extreme criticism regarding price increases on life-saving drugs. These price increases make it difficult for consumers to afford these essential goods. The cost increase is disproportionate to inflation or the cost of manufacturing. Although these companies have a fiduciary duty to their shareholders to maximize profit, are these price increases ethical?
In recent months, Mylan, an American global generic and specialty pharmaceuticals company, has faced extreme criticism regarding the six-fold price increase of their EpiPen allergy-reaction injector. This increase has consumers asking how could a product whose list price in 2009 was $100 for a two-pack to $608 today be ethically right? Before answering this question, it is important to look at the history of Mylan’s life-saving drug.
In 2011, the list price for the EpiPen was $164.98. Due to the product’s shelf life of one year, consumers had to replace their EpiPens annually, …show more content…

More and more pharmaceutical companies are charging astronomical prices on life-saving drugs. Consumers interpret these price increases as the producer profiteering off a person’s life or death need. Mylan’s response to the criticism was introducing a generic brand of EpiPen with a list price of $300. Although much more affordable than the specialty brand, companies should not be offering discount or generic brands on life-saving drugs. According to Kozarich, there should be no excessive, unjustified profits on essential products or services (Kozarich). For instance, if a person went into cardiac arrest and needed immediate medical attention, hospitals would first treat the patient before determining whether or not the individual could pay for the required

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The complaint stated, “Defendant has a legal duty and obligation to set a fair, affordable, and reasonable [price] and not hold consumers hostage by forcing them to pay exorbitant prices for its medically necessary product”. Another lawsuit was filed in August in the federal court of Michigan for selling EpiPens in the US only in packs of two. The complaint stated, “Defendants have misstated the science regarding, and regulatory framework governing EpiPens in order to require consumers to buy extra, unneeded EpiPens, which are likely to go to waste, at an inflated cost.” In both lawsuits, the Plaintiffs have good reasons to file a lawsuit against Mylan.

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This action taken by the government into the investigation of the monopoly of EpiPens has uncovered that Mylan has been misclassifying the EpiPens for years. Mylan was supposed to classify EpiPen as a single source (meaning brand name drug) which would require them to provide Medicaid rebate of 23.1% of the cost and inflation rebate, but instead they classified it as a generic version of a drug which only requires 13% Medicaid rebate of the cost and no inflation rebate (Mole). This may cause the government to give Mylan penalties, and it may cause the government to make claims on sales. The government is penalizing and criticizing Mylan for using the system incorrectly, and the government is supporting generic versions of EpiPens and different brands to come to the United States to stop the monopoly and increase competition. Although some patent laws created by the government have created an epinephrine auto-injector monopoly in the United States, the government is working now to eliminate this monopoly and penalize Mylan for using it to its

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