Good ol’ Milan Pharmaceuticals,
always looking out for the health of West Virginians.
When Auvi-Q, the talking
auto-injector that was the Siri of the food allergy world, came along
instructing parents and patients how to handle the life-saving injection, Milan
Big Pharma sued to prevent the competition.
Miraculously, 26 reports of the
device not working surfaced. Not one was verified. But it shut down the Auvi-Q
production and Milan lined its pockets with zillions of dollars and put
thousands of lives at increased risk.
When the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources tried to
switch to the cheaper (of course) Auvi-Q instead of the Epi-Pen that paid CEO
Heath Bresch $19 million in 2015, Milan sued to block the change. But lost.
West Virginia Medicare, West
Virginia Public Employees’ Insurance Agency and the Children’s Health Insurance
Program all switched to Auvi-Q. Seven months later, using the false claims of
malfunctions of Auvi-Q, the method was recalled.
Voila! Milan was back
gouging the taxpayers with its Epi-Pens.
If another company did
that, do you think West Virginia’s Senator Joe Manchin would be silent? Let me
put it another way: If Joe’s daughter wasn’t the Milan CEO, do you think Joe
would be making political hay by attacking Milan?
Other members of Congress
are investigating whether Mylan violated antitrust law. Except for Joe Manchin,
of course.
Milan spent $1.2 million
to lobby for its Epi-Pens with politicians. That was money well spent since
Milan raised the Epi-Pens’ price from $56.64 to $317.82, which would be
equivalent to you getting a pay raise ALMOST SIX TIMES your current salary. All
at the expense of the health of children and adults who need the life-saving
device the most.
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