By: Jacob T. Reynolds
Dear Michelle,
Let’s get straight to the point—you’ve let greed take the wheel.
Mylan’s $600 EpiPen and the newly introduced $300 generic option have placed a vital medication out of reach for countless hardworking families across America. Considering that the production cost of the EpiPen is only a few dollars, your decision to ramp up its price by $500 over the past decade is nothing short of astonishing. Then, you had the audacity to announce a generic version at “half” the price.
Parents like me see through this façade. You’re offering a generic EpiPen that used to cost $100 back in 2007—now, with a 300% markup. Did you really think we’d express gratitude, or did you assume we’d be too confused to figure it out?
The reality is, even if you cut the price in half, it remains three times more than it was just a few years ago, highlighting your relentless pursuit of profit during a time when families are in dire need.
We can’t simply budget and save as if we’re buying a new car. This life-saving medication is essential and has a shelf life of a year. As a family, we need three packs, and our daughter isn’t even in school yet. I know families who require five or six packs to keep their children safe.
Those of us who can afford your inflated prices do so out of sheer necessity. If we don’t make sacrifices to purchase this product, we risk our loved ones’ lives. There’s no real competition out there, and you know it—we know it. You raise the prices, and we pay. It’s a never-ending cycle.
You claim that reducing the EpiPen price would harm Mylan, yet I can’t help but notice that your salary has skyrocketed by 670% since you took over the product nine years ago. An annual salary of $19 million seems excessive, especially when it appears that no amount of wealth can satisfy your appetite for more.
While you enjoy a lavish lifestyle, we scramble to afford medicine that keeps our children alive. Your refusal to lower the price of EpiPens reveals that your priority is Mylan’s profits and your own wealth—life-saving medicine is secondary.
I urge you to reflect on this, Michelle:
- Every extravagant meal you enjoy at a Michelin-starred restaurant is funded by families who forgo meals to ensure their child has an EpiPen.
- Every flashy vehicle you own is paid for by families who have sacrificed essentials just to afford this medication.
- Every vacation home you acquire is purchased with money that should have gone toward EpiPen packs for families with multiple children suffering from food allergies.
You can make all the public statements you want about EpiPen access issues, but actions speak louder than words. You can pretend to be unaware of the consequences of your pricing strategies, offer coupons, and create unaffordable products. However, you can’t buy your way into our community by donating to causes we care about. That money is just a fraction of what you’ve taken from us.
Your philanthropy doesn’t equate to compassion, Michelle; it only highlights your hypocrisy. You will never be part of our community because you’ve shown that you don’t care about my daughter’s life or the lives of millions like her.
You can’t possibly understand the strength and compassion within our community. While some may wish for you to experience a life-threatening allergy, I can assure you that no parent would ever wish that upon you. We’ve witnessed the terrifying reality of anaphylaxis firsthand.
We’ve seen the hives spreading across our loved ones’ skin, held them as they vomited and gasped for air, and watched the fear in their eyes as they struggled for their lives. We’ve gripped our overpriced EpiPens with trembling hands and injected them into our children, praying for a miracle while on the phone with emergency services.
This is not a life we chose; EpiPens are not a luxury—they are a necessity that can mean the difference between life and death.
Here’s another truth: if you were experiencing an anaphylactic attack and one of us was nearby, we wouldn’t hesitate to use our overpriced EpiPens to save you. That’s the character of a community you’ve exploited.
I’m proud that my daughters will grow up in a community of kindness and empathy. They will learn from your example and become compassionate individuals who prioritize the lives of others over personal gain.
In essence, they will be everything you are not, Michelle.