America has a new pharmaceutical villain. Her name is Heather Bresch.
As the chief executive of Mylan, the owner of the severe allergy treatment EpiPen, Ms. Bresch is at the center of the latest public outrage over high drug prices, excoriated for overseeing a fourfold price increase on EpiPen while taking a huge pay raise.
(New York Times, August 26, 2016)
Except that, if a CEO could rake in 500 times the median salary of his employees, it’s hardly surprising that this CEO would think nothing of hiking the price of her best-selling product 500 percent … if the market would bear it.
Morally repugnant?
Yes. But so is the fact that millions of people are living in poverty in the richest country in the history of mankind. And this is just one of many such unconscionable facts of life in America today.
Indeed, what do you make of Uber’s “surging pricing” strategy? It calls for charging $13 or $47 for the same trip depending on such things as demand, weather conditions, or holidays (i.e., when you need it most).
On a more serious note, if you think this CEO should be pilloried for charging $600 per year for EpiPen to treat allergic reactions, what do you think should happen to the CEOs who charge $44,800 per month for Orkambi to treat Cystic Fibrosis, or $81,000 per month for Sovaldi to treat Hepatitis C?
A little perspective here would help, folks.