Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Mylan to Settle EpiPen Overpricing Case for $465M

nytimes.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

31–40 of 85 posts

Re: Mylan to Settle EpiPen Overpricing Case for $465M

#31

Post by ch4s3 »

cmdrfred wrote: post #27
ch4s3 wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> And if the law doesn't allow it, but the regulators never drop the hammer, don't expect people not to do it. I'm not saying it isn't fraud. I'm saying that its par for the course when regulators rarely take action. Mylan got greedy and got slapped. Regulatory bodies in the US are woefully underfunded and this sort of thing is the result. Blame congress.

64% of murders currently result in an conviction. At what percentage would it no longer be the perpetrators responsibility for the crime and instead be the fault of the lawmakers lack of ability to bring him to justice?

Well, if only a handful ever get investigated because the police are understaffed... well then follow the funding. You get the regulatory environment you vote for.

Re: Mylan to Settle EpiPen Overpricing Case for $465M

#32

Post by Animats »

ch4s3 wrote: post #9
forrestthewoods wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not a monopoly. There have been and continue to be other epinephrine auto-injectors from competitors.

Have been, but what else is on the market right now in the US? Why is that? Its not for lack of demand.

Here's pricing info in the UK.[1] (Via a proxy site, because HM Government doesn't like access to their pricing data from outside the UK.)

EpiPen® Auto-injector 0.3 mg (delivering a single dose of adrenaline 300 micrograms), adrenaline 1 mg/mL (1 in 1000), net price:

2-mL auto-injector device = £26.45

2 × 2-mL auto-injector device = £52.90

This is the same product from the same vendor as in the US.

[1] https://www.justproxy.co.uk/index.php?q=aHR0cDovL3d3dy5ldmlk...

Re: Mylan to Settle EpiPen Overpricing Case for $465M

#33

Post by hiou »

rayiner wrote: post #15

For people using the word "fraud." Fraud requires some misrepresentation of a material fact. Nobody at CMS was unaware of what an Epipen was, depending on Mylan's representations about what was in there. This is a fight over whether Mylan should have checked Box A or Box B. There is a reasonable case to be made for both sides. After all, the drug in an Epipen (epinephrine) is generic. For people talking about throwin…

The patent is for the delivery system.

Re: Mylan to Settle EpiPen Overpricing Case for $465M

#34

Post by colejohnson66 »

cmdrfred wrote: post #27
ch4s3 wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> And if the law doesn't allow it, but the regulators never drop the hammer, don't expect people not to do it. I'm not saying it isn't fraud. I'm saying that its par for the course when regulators rarely take action. Mylan got greedy and got slapped. Regulatory bodies in the US are woefully underfunded and this sort of thing is the result. Blame congress.

64% of murders currently result in an conviction. At what percentage would it no longer be the perpetrators responsibility for the crime and instead be the fault of the lawmakers lack of ability to bring him to justice?

That's a straw man (I think)

Re: Mylan to Settle EpiPen Overpricing Case for $465M

#35

Post by huac »

harryh wrote: post #20
gcr wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But how many fractions of a percent of their revenue does this really represent?

I'm not sure about revenue, but it represents about 55% of their annual profits. 465M / (EPS of 1.57 * 534.91M shares) = .5537

For 1 year.

Re: Mylan to Settle EpiPen Overpricing Case for $465M

#36

Post by joering2 »

harryh wrote: post #20
gcr wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But how many fractions of a percent of their revenue does this really represent?

I'm not sure about revenue, but it represents about 55% of their annual profits. 465M / (EPS of 1.57 * 534.91M shares) = .5537

Still worth it. Tell me I can rob a bank for $100MM and you meet me upfront - instead of arresting me, just take half of my loot and tell me I can't do another bank for the next 12 months.

Re: Mylan to Settle EpiPen Overpricing Case for $465M

#37

Post by dmix »

Another year another major pharmaceutical settlement: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_largest_pharmaceutical...

It's like a game of musical chairs for who gets to pay the government a billion dollars this year.

This Epipen case sounds far less bad then most on that list. Especially if we're going to talk about punishment. As most of the other settlements on the list were for mislabeled drugs. People were spending money and wasted weeks/months of their supposed treatment on drugs that didn't help them.

I personally experienced the effects of this due to a bad doctor, not mislabeling, and I was seriously sick for a much longer period of time then I should have been. Fortunately I found a specialist who knew what he was talking about and told me to take one drug which cost $100/m instead of three others costing me $900/m (I didn't have drug benefits insurance at the time). For me the wasted time on a treatment that didn't work was far more harmful to me than the added cost.

Re: Mylan to Settle EpiPen Overpricing Case for $465M

#38

Post by BurningFrog »

ch4s3 wrote: post #9
forrestthewoods wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not a monopoly. There have been and continue to be other epinephrine auto-injectors from competitors.

Have been, but what else is on the market right now in the US? Why is that? Its not for lack of demand.

Many have tried to launch competing products, but the FDA had denied all but AdrenaClick.

Thorough explanation and editorilizing here: http://slatestarcodex.com/2016/08/29/reverse-voxsplaining-dr...

Re: Mylan to Settle EpiPen Overpricing Case for $465M

#40

Post by chris_wot »

xorgar831 wrote: post #29
navbaker wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What would this accomplish?

It's tongue and cheek deterrent, it's effectively ex-communcaiton from their social circles which is where they get their attaboy/girl encouragement that this is acceptable behaviour. They don't see themselves as part of the hoi polloi, and bending the rules to their advantage is called "smart".

Isn't there something in the U.S. Constitution about prohibiting cruel and unusual punishment?

It's an unusual idea, and frankly it's cruel on the rest of us that we would have to share the same space as these people.

Post reply on HN