• Home
  • Latest
  • Fortune 500
  • Finance
  • Tech
  • Leadership
  • Lifestyle
  • Rankings
  • Multimedia

Trendingnow

1

As Big Tech showers employees with perks to win the talent war, Nvidia built a nearly $5 trillion company by making people pay for their own lunch

2

MacKenzie Scott alone accounted for one-third of America's $19.2 billion in megagifts last year

3

The Supreme Court's birthright citizenship ruling hands the U.S. economy a $7.7 trillion win

1

As Big Tech showers employees with perks to win the talent war, Nvidia built a nearly $5 trillion company by making people pay for their own lunch

2

MacKenzie Scott alone accounted for one-third of America's $19.2 billion in megagifts last year

3

The Supreme Court's birthright citizenship ruling hands the U.S. economy a $7.7 trillion win
Health

Mylan’s CEO Is Right—Pharma’s Price Hikes Could Ultimately Lead to Some Good

By
Sy Mukherjee
Sy Mukherjee
Down Arrow Button Icon
By
Sy Mukherjee
Sy Mukherjee
Down Arrow Button Icon
December 2, 2016, 5:31 PM ET
Heather Bresch
EpiPens that Mylan CEO Heather Bresch bought with her are seen on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Sept. 21, 2016, as she testified before the House Oversight Committee hearing on EpiPen price increases. Bresch defended the cost for life-saving EpiPens, signaling the company has no plans to lower prices despite a public outcry and questions from skeptical lawmakers. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)Pablo Martinez Monsivais — AP
Add Fortune on Google for similar content.

Mylan (MYL) CEO Heather Bresch has offered an… interesting take on her company’s widely-slammed decision to hike the price of the live-saving EpiPen by more than 400% over a decade: You’re welcome.

“I absolutely believe that if EpiPen had to be the catalyst to show this window of what families are facing in a high-deductible plan…then it would have been worth it,” the controversial big pharma chief told attendees at the Forbes Healthcare summit on Thursday. Bresch also said that she and her company take “full responsibility” for the price hike.

But responsibility and remorse are two very different things. And Bresch still hewed to the defensive tone she previously employed while testifying on the issue before the Senate Judiciary Committee in September, this time going so far as to assert that the whole episode was actually a good thing because it shed light on how insurers have been shifting drug costs onto their customers.

Some might argue that those comments are tone deaf and amount to passing the buck. After all, Mylan acquired the EpiPen from another company, and while Bresch insists that significant improvements have been made to the epinephrine-delivering product itself, she also admitted on Thursday that a big part of the price increase rationale was to fund marketing and awareness efforts for the device. But her underlying point isn’t totally invalid—the furor over drug price hikes like Mylan’s is forcing legislators and private companies alike to finally confront the issue head-on, and highlighting just how difficult the disparate and largely opaque American medical financing system makes it to address these problems in a serious way.

Click here to subscribe to Brainstorm Health Daily, our brand new newsletter about health innovations.

There’s still plenty of uncertainty about whether or not Congress will actually take steps on substantive legislative reforms that limit drug prices. In fact, pharma even won a big victory on election night in deep-blue California by defeating that state’s price cap popular referendum.

But the threat of a runaway PR fiasco that continues to infuriate consumers (and, in turn, may convince even reticent lawmakers to endorse more pricing regulations) is also causing major players to take their own actions—or at the very least to reconsider their thinking. Just compare Bresch’s comments to those of another Forbes summit attendee, Allergan (AGN) CEO Brent Saunders. Saunders insisted at the event and in an op-ed for the publication that biopharma should be prepared to act proactively to make their medicines more affordable, even under a Trump presidency and GOP-controlled Congress.

“The outcome on November 8 didn’t change the fact that many Americans are angry about the rising cost of healthcare and their medicines,” he wrote. “This anger will fuel the discussion about affordability well into the future,” adding, “Limit your price increases before we all face the impact of government regulation that stifles innovation and patient care.”

Saunders has previously pledged a “social contract” with Allergan customers promising fair drug prices following numerous high-profile scandals surrounding Martin Shkreli and Valeant Pharmaceuticals (VRX). And he built on that concept on Thursday, announcing that his firm will bolster its patient assistance programs for more than 40 drugs, including by helping people who make up to four times the federal poverty level buy their treatments for free.

Other pharma CEOs have endorsed a similar approach to pricing. Novartis (NVS) chief Joe Jiminez has been touting a pricing model that incorporates drugs’ real-world outcomes for years, stressing the importance of placing patients before profits; Regeneron (REGN) head honcho Len Schliefer had some tough words for fellow panelists from Eli Lilly (LLY) and Pfizer (PFE) (who argued that media reports about their own continued reliance on price increases to drive revenues is misleading) during Forbes’ event. “The real reason we’re not liked, in my opinion, is because we as an industry have used price increases to cover up the gaps in innovation,” he said. “That’s just a fact.”

As Bresch noted, drug pricing is a complicated issue, and the entire medical sector has a part to play in it. There’s a chain of events separating a drug’s topline list price, what benefits managers and insurers pay, and what customers ultimately wind up paying. And it’s hard to tell exactly what is driving up Americans’ medical costs at any given time because of the sheer number of players involved and a lack of easily available pricing information. But as these recent fiery debates within the drug industry underscore, pharma’s price hike tactics, now under constant public scrutiny, may well lead to more far-reaching change—whether imposed by legislation or by biopharma companies upon themselves.

About the Author
By Sy Mukherjee
See full bioRight Arrow Button Icon
Add Fortune on Google for similar content.

Latest in Health

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025

Most Popular

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Fortune Secondary Logo
Rankings
  • 100 Best Companies
  • Fortune 500
  • Global 500
  • Fortune 500 Europe
  • Most Powerful Women
  • World's Most Admired Companies
  • See All Rankings
  • Lists Calendar
Sections
  • Finance
  • Fortune Crypto
  • Features
  • Leadership
  • Health
  • Commentary
  • Success
  • Retail
  • Mpw
  • Tech
  • Lifestyle
  • CEO Initiative
  • Asia
  • Politics
  • Conferences
  • Europe
  • Newsletters
  • Personal Finance
  • Environment
  • Magazine
  • Education
Customer Support
  • Frequently Asked Questions
  • Customer Service Portal
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms Of Use
  • Single Issues For Purchase
  • International Print
Commercial Services
  • Advertising
  • Fortune Brand Studio
  • Fortune Analytics
  • Fortune Conferences
  • Business Development
  • Group Subscriptions
About Us
  • About Us
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • About Us
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • Facebook icon
  • Twitter icon
  • LinkedIn icon
  • Instagram icon
  • Pinterest icon

Latest in Health

The 6 Best Exercise Bikes of 2026: Fitness Expert Reviewed
HealthDietary Supplements
The 6 Best Exercise Bikes of 2026: Fitness Expert Reviewed
By Christina SnyderJuly 1, 2026
10 hours ago
kean
PoliticsCongress
Tom Kean discloses depression diagnosis behind 4-month absence from Congress: ‘until you experience it yourself, it is difficult to fully understand’
By Mike Catalini, Joey Cappelletti and The Associated PressJune 30, 2026
2 days ago
‘Cop on your wrist’: Wearables offer tons of data, but people are still going to sleep to Netflix and TikTok
HealthBrainstorm Tech
‘Cop on your wrist’: Wearables offer tons of data, but people are still going to sleep to Netflix and TikTok
By Amanda GerutJune 29, 2026
3 days ago
usa
EnvironmentHeat
Long and dangerous heat wave to roast America from Dallas to New York through July 4th holiday
By Marc Levy and The Associated PressJune 29, 2026
3 days ago
France suffers 1,000 additional deaths in just the past week amid record heat wave—and 85% involved people aged 65 and above
EuropeWeather and forecasting
France suffers 1,000 additional deaths in just the past week amid record heat wave—and 85% involved people aged 65 and above
By Kirsten Grieshaber, John Leicester and The Associated PressJune 28, 2026
4 days ago
Peter Rahal speaks on stage in front of a black and purple background.
RetailFood and drink
David Protein CEO says ‘diet trends are over’ because of GLP-1s: ‘What’s next is really hard to predict’
By Sasha RogelbergJune 28, 2026
4 days ago

Most Popular

As Big Tech showers employees with perks to win the talent war, Nvidia built a nearly $5 trillion company by making people pay for their own lunch
Big Tech
As Big Tech showers employees with perks to win the talent war, Nvidia built a nearly $5 trillion company by making people pay for their own lunch
By Marco Quiroz-GutierrezJuly 1, 2026
24 hours ago
MacKenzie Scott alone accounted for one-third of America's $19.2 billion in megagifts last year
Success
MacKenzie Scott alone accounted for one-third of America's $19.2 billion in megagifts last year
By Sydney LakeJune 25, 2026
7 days ago
The Supreme Court's birthright citizenship ruling hands the U.S. economy a $7.7 trillion win
Newsletters
The Supreme Court's birthright citizenship ruling hands the U.S. economy a $7.7 trillion win
By Diane BradyJuly 1, 2026
22 hours ago
Current price of oil as of July 1, 2026
Personal Finance
Current price of oil as of July 1, 2026
By Joseph HostetlerJuly 1, 2026
18 hours ago
Philanthropy leader at Warren Buffett and Bill Gates’ Giving Pledge says children of billionaires are pushing them to give their wealth away faster
Success
Philanthropy leader at Warren Buffett and Bill Gates’ Giving Pledge says children of billionaires are pushing them to give their wealth away faster
By Preston ForeJune 27, 2026
5 days ago
Elon Musk on MacKenzie Scott giving away $26 billion of her fortune: 'Sadly,' it makes the world a worse place
Success
Elon Musk on MacKenzie Scott giving away $26 billion of her fortune: 'Sadly,' it makes the world a worse place
By Sydney LakeJune 29, 2026
3 days ago

© 2026 Fortune Media IP Limited. All Rights Reserved. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy | CA Notice at Collection and Privacy Notice | Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information
FORTUNE is a trademark of Fortune Media IP Limited, registered in the U.S. and other countries. FORTUNE may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice.