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Speaker 1: I'm Charlie Palleton. That's a Bloomberg business flash. You're listening
Speaker 1: to Taking Style with pin Box and Gablee. Hayes on
Speaker 1: Bloomberg Radio. My Land and epi pens. Well, epi pens
Speaker 1: are in the news because since two thousand and seven,
Speaker 1: the price of fipens has increased by four hundred percent.
Speaker 1: During that same time, the now chief executive of my Land,
Speaker 1: her salary has increased more than six hundred and seventy
Speaker 1: Here to tell us more is Michael Ray. He is
Speaker 1: the chief executive of our ex Savings Solutions and he
Speaker 1: is based in Overland Park, Kansas. Michael, thanks for being
Speaker 1: with us. Tell us about EpiPens and why has the
Speaker 1: price increased so much? Yeah, well, Pim, it's always a
Speaker 1: pleasure to be with you. Um. You know, with the
Speaker 1: Eppen situation, UM, you've got a couple of things, market
Speaker 1: factors combined, and you've got the mergers of a couple
Speaker 1: of companies. You've got a really big marketing campaign that's
Speaker 1: driven um a bit of fear um in the market
Speaker 1: and essentially, at the end of the day, UM that
Speaker 1: that's increased the price. There's obviously been some price spikes,
Speaker 1: but what EpiPen does is it. It's epineffern is the
Speaker 1: active ingredient. It actually helps relax the smooth muscle in
Speaker 1: the throat. And so what happens sometimes with kids with
Speaker 1: a beasting or a peanut allergy, um, they may have
Speaker 1: a reaction where their throat swallows up. The epanef worn
Speaker 1: will actually um stop that from happening and could be
Speaker 1: life saving, which is which is why it's such a
Speaker 1: dilemma for a lot of parents on whether or not
Speaker 1: they spend the six hundred bucks on it. And Michael,
Speaker 1: you know, we have talked today about the CEO of
Speaker 1: Milan how to brush her Her father is Democratic Senator
Speaker 1: Joe Mansion. We've seen, um, some of these executives from
Speaker 1: other pharmaceutical companies get called into Congress um to actually
Speaker 1: talk about these price hikes, whether it's UH fame Martin
Speaker 1: Shakreli at the former leader of Touring Pharmaceuticals, or executives
Speaker 1: from Valiant. But when I think about this, uh, this
Speaker 1: group of companies, this seems to be the one that
Speaker 1: has the most general consumer recognition. This is the EpiPen.
Speaker 1: You know, this is to your point, the one that
Speaker 1: you grab if your kid does have a beasting. Does
Speaker 1: this change the game at all for how a Congress
Speaker 1: is looking at these companies and whether we see some
Speaker 1: kind of congressional order and be for violin itself. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's a great question. I mean, I think when you
Speaker 1: look at touring and you compare it to mylin UM,
Speaker 1: with touring, you know, you've got a life or that
Speaker 1: situation with their drug as well, UM usually usually in
Speaker 1: some very sick HIV patients. In this case, now you're
Speaker 1: dealing with children. UM, so you've got maybe even an
Speaker 1: even more emotional component UM for some folks M on
Speaker 1: that and so you know they really as a parent,
Speaker 1: you know, speaking as as a parent, UM, it's pretty
Speaker 1: difficult to say no, no matter what the cost is.
Speaker 1: But that said, there's economics involved in their supply and demand,
Speaker 1: and there's a breaking point. And I think that we've seen, um,
Speaker 1: you know, seen a breaking point being reached, not just
Speaker 1: in um, the case of touring with the very big
Speaker 1: increase at one time, but also with that depen and
Speaker 1: the smaller percentage increases. But overall UM really really inflating
Speaker 1: you know, both their sales and net profits. You know,
Speaker 1: you you you speak about supply and demand. Teva comes
Speaker 1: to mind because they have an up and difference shot UM,
Speaker 1: that is, you know, potentially being reviewed by the fd
Speaker 1: as a competitor. Does this push that process to you know,
Speaker 1: come through faster. Do we see some kind of speedy
Speaker 1: review from the f d A as mylens going through
Speaker 1: this kind of public right now? Yeah, I think you know,
Speaker 1: there's I'm look, I'm all for competition, and I think
Speaker 1: this really ties into your question about UM about bringing
Speaker 1: executives to Washington. UM. I'm all for competition in the
Speaker 1: free market, but I'm not sure why Teva necessarily gets
Speaker 1: to jump the line UM in this case. Knowing that
Speaker 1: you know, there is an epineffron auto injector that is
Speaker 1: readily available. Most people don't know that. And so I
Speaker 1: think this is a case where you know, information is power.
Speaker 1: It's something that we UM really you know, push hard
Speaker 1: on for our our health plan and sell funded clients. UM.
Speaker 1: And it's really about information in the hands of the
Speaker 1: of the person making the decision at the right time.
Speaker 1: In the case of bringing UM, you know, more of
Speaker 1: these executives to Washington, if there's going if there's actually
Speaker 1: a goal, I'm all for it if there's actually something
Speaker 1: that's going to result, um. But if it's if it's
Speaker 1: just a parade um to kind of publicly parade them,
Speaker 1: I don't think it's gonna it's gonna solve the problem
Speaker 1: that we're all looking for at the end of the day.
Speaker 1: And I think that really it should be people with
Speaker 1: solutions be brought to Washington, because there are often times
Speaker 1: things that can be done and something that we're definitely
Speaker 1: advocating for the market. Well, just to give the context here, Michael,
Speaker 1: EpiPens make up of my lands operating profits and the
Speaker 1: same device cells in France for eighty five dollars. Is
Speaker 1: there any real reason why something that's sold for well,
Speaker 1: I don't know, fifty dollars, sixty dollars several years ago.
Speaker 1: Is there anything in the EpiPen itself that has increased
Speaker 1: so dramatically to make it now cost more than five Yeah,
Speaker 1: to my knowledge. Now, I mean, I think it's effective marketing,
Speaker 1: it's effective branding, um. And they've they've increased the demand
Speaker 1: for for the product. But from a you know, cost
Speaker 1: of components that go into the product, I'm not aware
Speaker 1: of any any shortage, any price bike or anything like that,
Speaker 1: all right, thanks very much, Michael Ray. He is the
Speaker 1: founder and the chief executive of our X Savings Solutions.
Speaker 1: They are based in Overland Park, Kansas. The shares of
Speaker 1: my Land are down about four percent today at forty
Speaker 1: dollars sixty four cents. And as you mentioned at the
Speaker 1: very beginning, Alex the chief executive of my Land of Pharmaceuticals.
Speaker 1: UH the daughter of Democratic Senator Joe Mansion of West
Speaker 1: of Virginia, Heather Breash. She was president of my Land
Speaker 1: in two thousand seven she earned two point four million
Speaker 1: dollars and UH last year she made eighteen point nine
Speaker 1: million dollars. This is Bloomberg coming up on taking stock,
Speaker 1: will take stock of global foreign exchange markets. We'll find
Speaker 1: out is the dollar over valued? And what will Janet Yellen,
Speaker 1: Chair of the Federal Reserve, what will her speech mean
Speaker 1: for dollars