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The request
followed a recent report by Reuters detailing how EpiPen price
hikes by manufacturer Mylan NV had added millions to U.S.
Department of Defense spending since 2008 as the agency covered
more prescriptions for the lifesaving allergy shot at near
retail prices.
"We know the price increase for EpiPens is hitting individual
consumers and Medicare and Medicaid,” Grassley, a Republican,
said in a statement. “We need to determine whether taxpayers
overpaid for the EpiPen through the Department of Defense and
the VA and whether they deserve a rebate, as they do with
Medicaid. Spending that isn’t warranted squeezes the health care
budget.”
Mylan agreed last month to pay $465 million to settle questions
of whether it underpaid U.S. government healthcare programs by
misclassifying EpiPen.
The company raised the price for a package of two EpiPens by
sixfold to more than $600 over the last decade.
(Reporting By Deena Beasley; Editing by Andrew Hay)
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