Senator Joe Manchin's daughter,
who used to be the CEO of Mylan
Pharmaceuticals, was actually a key
player in a plot to monopolize
the market for the severe allergy
medication known as EpiPen.
Now, this is something that
most people suspected, but
thanks to new reporting by
Ryan Grim over at the Intercept,
we now have some documents in
the form of email exchanges.
Making it abundantly clear that
Mylan Pharmaceuticals under her
leadership, very intentionally made
sure that there was no competition
in the market for the EpiPen.
Now, let me give you the details of
what we've learned through
this reporting.
In a January 2011 email,
on behalf of Heather Bresch,
that's the former CEO of Mylan, and
also of course
Senator Manchin's daughter,
to her counterpart at Pfizer.
To then-CEO Ian Read, Bresch
confirms a previous discussion with
Read in which she says that the two
agreed that as part of a deal,
Pfizer, a competing pharmaceutical
company, would disinvest from its
EpiPen competitor, Adrenaclick.
Eliminating its main competitor
would then allow Mylan to continue
raising its prices.
Now understand something,
it's not just the executives over
at Mylan that very clearly did
something wrong here.
They essentially collaborated with
the executives over at Pfizer to
ensure that there was a monopoly,
essentially.
And then what they
would do is share the profits.
So Bresch's assistant wrote in
an email to executives at Pfizer,
quote, I'm sending you this email
as a reminder that you were to send
me confirmation relative to our
discussion regarding EpiPen.
In that discussion,
you indicated that you would be
divesting your Adrenaclick product
once the Pfizer/King deal closes.
I understand your tender offer is
closing today, so
I would appreciate receiving your
response as soon as possible.
Now, how do we have these email
exchanges?
How do we have these documents?
Well, Mylan is currently undergoing
an antitrust investigation.
They're dealing with a pretty
serious lawsuit.
And as a result, a judge recently
decided to basically allow for
these documents to be made public.
And so Ryan grim obtained them,
he reported on them, and
now it's really abundantly clear
that there was essentially
collusion between Mylan and
Pfizer in order to do what they
ended up doing with the EpiPen.
And the price of EpiPens went from
about $100 to more than $600.
Now, for those who might have
decent insurance,
the insurance companies would cover
most of the costs for the EpiPen.
For people who
don't have insurance,
they're basically screwed, right?
But understand that even with
insurance companies covering part
of the cost for EpiPens, what ends
up happening is the inflated cost
or the inflated price leads to
higher premiums for all of us.
That's how the system works.
Now, how did they exactly
monopolize the market?
Well, by divesting from Adrenaclick
and continuing to allow Mylan to
sell the EpiPen at inflated prices,
both firms would split the profits
from the more expensive version.
Allowing Pfizer to earn more than
it would if it had driven down
prices with its cheaper generic
version.
That's what Pfizer was originally
planning to do, but
executives based on these documents
hit up Pfizer and we're like, bro,
look, how about don't release your
whole generic version.
Mylan will inflate the prices of
the drug and
we'll share the profits.
Now, it gets a little more detailed
because how did this all go down?
Because Pfizer initially did pose
a threat to Mylan pharmaceuticals.
So in 2007 for
instance, Mylan acquired rights to
market the drug from Merck.
The deal or
the result of the deal with Merck
was that Mylan manufactured part
of the EpiPen delivery system, but
not the medication itself, while
owning the brand name and the right
to distribute the whole product.
The drug itself was produced by
King Pharmaceuticals, which
manufactured it exclusively for
Mylan.
Now, in comes Pfizer,
Pfizer buys King, the very group or
the very company that's actually
manufacturing the drug, right?
So king in 2010 announced that
it would be purchased by Pfizer,
which was licensed to sell
Adrenaclick, an EpiPen competitor
the previous year.
The deal between Pfizer and
Mylan led Pfizer to withdraw its
competitor from the market and
partner with Mylan on EpiPen,
locking down a monopoly.
So you as a patient,
your family members as potential
patients, they don't have a choice.
There is no
competition to the EpiPen.
There's no generic version, because
once there was some possibility
of a generic version, you have the
executives over at Mylan hitting up
the executives over at Pfizer.
And essentially, both agreeing that
there would be no generic version.
Mylan would inflate the price of
the EpiPen and
then they would share the profits.
So it gets even worse.
Following the deal with Pfizer,
Mylan, as I mentioned,
drove the price above $600 within
five years.
And look, once they cornered the
market that way, once Mylan knows
that they have no competitors,
they can do whatever they want.
They can price gouge patients,
they could price gouge insurers,
which is exactly what they did.
But Senator Joe Manchin's daughter,
who, again, was the CEO of
Mylan Pharmaceuticals at the time,
went even further.
She's like,
just got a little taste,
want a little more.
So what does she do?
According to Ryan Grimm's
reporting, the documents also show
Bresch approving a scheme to force
customers captured by the company's
monopoly to purchase two EpiPens at
once, regardless of medical need.
The monopoly had created space for
the new scheme, and the new scheme
created extra revenue
that Mylan split with Pfizer.
Thus entrenching the monopoly and
warding off generics, and
also set aside to dole out as
rebates to third parties who might
complain according to internal
correspondence.
So I want to take you to this video
featuring Heather Bresch who was
being questioned by members of
Congress.
This was a congressional
hearing on the price gouging
that was taking place.
This is a video from 2016.
And she very clearly lies in this
exchange.
Let's take a look.
>> Did you plan on increasing
the price in 2017?
>> No sir, we did not.
>> Okay, but you did have a plan
then to raise it every year for
five or six years?
>> And if you look at what we
received out of that money-
[CROSSTALK] >> Not and,
I just asked you a question.
Did you have a plan to right raise
the price every year for six years
and then stop? >> We have raised
the price, and I think managing to,
what we received, that 274 out of
the 608 is what we were managing.
>> So you're obviously proud
of your company. You think that was
fair then to raise the price each
year to that point.
Even though you got a drug at $100,
which was probably too much for the
drug considering what the cost is.
I know you made a fancy clicker
because I had one of your reps come
by my office back in 2009 or 10,
show me how to use it.
So I know that cost a little
bit of money.
But generally when a drug goes to
generic, doesn't the price go down?
Which is why we dropped it to $300.
>> Only after you jacked it up
to 600.
It's like if I go buy this tie, and
they say it's $600, but we're
going to sell it to me for 300,
that doesn't make it worth $300.
You fixed the price on the drug.
>> Now, she's clearly lying.
I mean, the question was clear.
Did you intend on inflating
the price of this drug?
And she pretended as if she didn't.
When in reality these email
exchanges make it abundantly clear
that they very intentionally
created a monopoly for
the drug with the very intention
of inflating the prices to price
gouge patients and insurers.
I bring you to yet
another email exchange.
This is with Mylan CEO Lloyd
Sanders at the time, he wrote to
Heather Bresch, Harry, Ron, Joe,
Mike and I are recommending a price
increase now for EpiPen.
The original plan was to
increase in December or January,
assuming there was no backlash from
Project X2 at payers.
X2 is where they forced patients
to buy two EpiPens at once.
Now he continues to write,
Project X2 implementation has been
without any issues.
Last price increase was May
of 2011.
No push back on that either,
Sanders wrote.
The incremental sales would be 5.5
million to 6 million and
it all drops to the bottom line.
You see what they're doing there?
I mean, very intentional,
very clear what they were doing,
what the plan was.
It's not like they're like, wait,
we didn't see those coming.
Of course they they knew what they
were doing.
But now it's very clear that they
intentionally created a monopoly,
which is great evidence in this
antitrust lawsuit that Mylan is
currently dealing with.
Now, when Heather Bresch received
some backlash on this issue,
she was like, look, I get it.
I'm a good person.
I don't want people to be price
gouged, the system is broken,
that's the problem.
Now, does she actually want to do
what's necessary to fix the broken
system?
Of course not.
You think she's going to go after
her own profit motives?
You think she's going to do
something that's going to hurt her
ability to earn more money,
earn more money.
To essentially rob people so
she could make more money,
that's a better way of putting it.
I take you to our final video
on this, gives you a sense of
who Heather Bresch is.
And keep this in mind as you hear
from Senator Joe Manchin,
who does not want to pass the
Budget Reconciliation bill, which
includes an expansion of Medicare.
And also includes a provision that
would allow for Medicare to
negotiate drug prices directly with
pharmaceutical companies.
He doesn't like that.
You know why?
Because it's going to hurt his
daughter's bottom line.
She don't like that either.
She makes it clear in this video.
>> Just cancel the price increase.
Why can't you do that?
>> The reality is in the brand
pharmaceutical market,
this isn't an EpiPen issue.
This isn't a Mylan issue.
This is a healthcare issue.
>> So you would support the change
in the law that would allow the US
government to negotiate drug prices
for Medicare and Medicaid.
>> No, I don't know that
that's the answer.
>> Bresch calls the healthcare
system broken with too many
middlemen demanding a cut.
>> So she throws Pfizer
under the bus,
too many middlemen demanding a cut.
That's the problem.
We have to inflate our prices
because remember,
we essentially cut a deal with
Pfizer to monopolize this market.
So we got to pay Pfizer their cut.
We want to make money too so
we're going to inflate the price.
If you were to decode what
she's saying that's what it's
really about, okay?
That's what she means when she's
talking about the middlemen.
But the middlemen are there because
she intentionally
created a situation
where the middlemen are there.
I mean, this was all
a way of creating a monopoly and
ensuring that there is no
competitor to the EpiPen.
And some might say, well, I mean,
this is wrong.
This is crony capitalism,
this is corruption,
whatever you want.
No, but this is how
capitalism works.
That's why you need the federal
government.
You need a natural antitrust
division within the federal
government to rein in capitalism.
But understand that this
is how the system works.
And even when it comes to the issue
of competition,
we hear all the rosy stories about
capitalism's competitive edge and
how it's so great.
But understand that that
competition also leads corporations
to offshore jobs to ensure that
they can maximize profits and
make more in revenue and profits
compared to their competitors.
So there are two sides to
competition, just that one side we
don't hear much about in our
corporate media or in any of this
analysis regarding the economy.
And finally,
one more element to the story that
shouldn't really blow your mind at
this point because
seems like everyone in the Manchin
family is looking for a grift.
Because Manchin's wife was very
much involved in this too.
Gale Manchin, Bresch's mother,
lobbied states to require schools
to stock the EpiPen as the head of
the National Association of
State Boards of Education.
Gail Manchin was recently confirmed
to serve as the co-chair of
the Federal Appalachian
Regional Commission,
a government agency tasked with
promoting economic development
across the region's 13 states.
Fantastic.
What a great choice.
Now, Biden certainly is trying to
appeal to Joe Manchin
with some carrots.
His wife got that sweet, sweet gig.
But it's time for
Biden to use the sticks.
Because if there's any chance
of the $3.5 trillion
reconciliation bill passing,
he needs to ensure that Joe Manchin
who's pushing back against that
very legislation bends to His will.
The question is,
does Biden really want it?
And we're going to
have to wait and see.
But we do know what the influencing
factors are for
someone like Senator Manchin.
It's not that he's a Democratic
Senator from a red state.
It's not that he's trying to appeal
to conservatives.
It's not that he
values bipartisanship.
He has his corporate donors to
worry about, but more importantly
his own family's profits.
That's what he's worried about.
That's what motivates him.
And that's what media never talks
about, with the exception
of a few independent outlets.