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 Scott Stringer said the price hikes, six times what the device cost
when Mylan took it over in 2007, have prompted a public backlash and
are partly responsible for a nearly 10 percent decline in Mylan's
share price in the past month alone. Stringer manages about $163
billion in pension funds for the city, including 1,059,357 shares of
Mylan common stock worth about $45 million, he said.
"Mylan's gross mismanagement of its EpiPen pricing strategy
exacerbates the company's protracted history of weak board
oversight," Stringer said in a letter to Douglas Leech, a Mylan
board member who is chairman of its nominating and governance
committee.
Mylan, whose tax address is in the Netherlands but with corporate
headquarters in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania, has raised the U.S. price
of EpiPen from less than $100 when it acquired the product to more
than $600.
Amid an outcry by parents, consumer groups and U.S. politicians, the
company on Monday said it will soon launch the first generic version
of the device for $300, half the list price of its branded product.
The EpiPen jabs a dose of the drug epinephrine into the thigh to
counter dangerous allergic reactions such as to peanuts, food
allergies and bee stings.
Stringer said Mylan has failed to establish independent board
leadership and noted the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is
investigating alleged land dealings between the company and its lead
independent director, Rodney Piatt.
Mylan spokeswoman Nina Devlin, responding to Stringer's criticisms,
said board members, including 10 independent directors, are highly
qualified and vigilant.
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"The board has been actively engaged in overseeing the execution of
Mylan's growth strategy over the past decade - a strategy which has
brought hundreds of products to the market," Devlin said.
Leech and Piatt were not immediately available to comment.
Although Mylan Chief Executive Heather Bresch called the cheaper
generic EpiPen an "extraordinary" commercial response, criticism has
continued to rain down on the drugmaker. The U.S. House Committee on
Oversight and Government Reform is investigating the company's
EpiPen pricing strategy.
(Reporting by Ransdell Pierson; Editing by Dan Grebler)
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