Hi everyone, I’m Katie!
I’m a sophomore psychology major with a business minor at Saint Michael’s College. In my marketing class we talked about the four P’s of marketing: product, place, promotion, price. The price of a product can make or break a company. The price should be affordable to consumers, but not too low that the company doesn’t make a profit.
In recent news, there was a 400% price increase in the EpiPen. An EpiPen is an injectable medication containing epinephrine, a chemical that treats allergic reactions such as food, bug bites and stings, and other allergens. Mylan raised their price for a two-pack of EpiPens from $100 to $600. It is important to note that these EpiPens expire after one year and must be replaced, making it very costly for consumers to afford this life-saving drug.
Mylan CEO, Heather Bresch told the New York Times, “I am running a business. I am a for-profit business. I am not hiding from that.” What I found interesting was that Bresch’s salary rose from $2,453,456 to $18,931,068. Breach is right in the fact that she is running a business, but is it ethical to charge six times the original price for a life saving drug? Bresch remains unapologetic about the increase in price and claims that it was necessary for the company. Mylan was already a profitable business, but raising the EpiPen price by 400% made them even more profitable, but certainly less ethical. It doesn't look good when families are struggling to pay the new price of the EpiPen, while the CEO's salary was raised to $18,931,068.
Mylan CEO, Heather Bresch
Is it worth raising the price of a life-saving drug to $600 in order to make a company more profitable? I would say that it is not worth it. Sure, a company should be profitable, but when the price of a product is raised to such a high amount that makes it difficult for families to afford, then there is something wrong. I don’t agree with Mylan’s decision and I believe that is unethical for a company to price a life-saving drug so high that becomes unaffordable to families.
I’m not the only one disappointed with Mylan’s decision to raise the price of their EpiPen. A petition was created untitled “Stop the Epipen Price Gouging”. This petition has raised awareness of the EpiPen situation, and as a result, 143,244 letters and emails have been sent to Mylan. As a response to the large number of complaints about the price, Mylan announced a week after the $600 price announcement that they would create a generic EpiPen. The generic EpiPen will still contain epinephrine, but will not have the brand name, and will retail for $300 for a two-pack.
Complaints from consumers about the $600 EpiPen price
It was smart for Mylan to create their own generic version of the EpiPen before their competition could release a generic version. This means that Mylan will receive the profits from both the generic $300 EpiPen and the brand name $600 EpiPen. The four P’s of marketing are key to a product’s success. In terms of the EpiPen controversy, price is the most important, and when Mylan marketers and producers realized that their high prices were sparking controversy, they created the generic $300 two-pack to help relieve the controversy. I think that $300 is still on the high end for a two-pack of EpiPens, but I am happy that Mylan made the decision to create a generic brand that cut the price in half. Price is important to how successful a company is, and I believe that the price being cut in half from $600 to $300 for EpiPens will save Mylan from what would have been the beginning of a failure.
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