US: EpiPen maker may have overcharged taxpayers by $1.27 billion

Mylan Pharmaceuticals, the maker of EpiPens for allergy sufferers, may have overcharged taxpayers as much as $1.27 billion by misclassifying their life-saving devices under Medicaid’s drug rebate program from 2006 to 2016, a government watchdog has informed Sen. Charles E. Grassley of Iowa.

The amount detailed by the Health and Human Services Department’s inspector general is nearly three times the amount that Mylan acknowledged in negotiations with the Justice Department, which sought a settlement last year amid congressional uproar over the Pennsylvania-based drugmaker’s decision to hike the price of its twin-pack of EpiPens.

Mr. Grassley, a Republican and chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said Mylan short-changed taxpayers by classifying its popular EpiPen as a generic instead of a brand-name product — a move that allowed it to pay smaller rebates to states under Medicaid, the government insurance program for the poor.

Manufacturers pay states a 23.1 percent rebate on brand-name drugs compared to 13 percent for generics. Mr. Grassley said it was alarming that taxpayers were nearly cheated out of hundreds of millions.

“The fact that the EpiPen overpayment is so much more than anyone discussed publicly should worry every taxpayer. Mylan and the Obama administration reportedly were close to settling the overpayment for much less than $1.27.

Full Content: CNBC

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