Drugmaker refuses to testify on settlement over EpiPen pricing

The embattled manufacturer of the EpiPen will not testify at a hearing next week by the Senate Judiciary Committee, its chairman announced Monday.

Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) said executives at Mylan turned down his request to appear at a Nov. 30 hearing set to focused on the company’s potential settlement with the Obama administration over a Medicaid pricing dispute.

{mosads}The company had announced to investors earlier this month that it had reached a $465 million settlement with the Department of Justice over the issue, but the DOJ later denied that it had struck a deal.

A lawyer representing Mylan told Grassley in a letter dated Friday that the company would not take part because the hearing’s focus was on a “pending matter.”  

Grassley has seized on the mixed messaging from the Obama administration and Mylan to condemn both for the lack of transparency surrounding the deal.  

“Ironically, the company was eager to talk about this problem a few weeks ago in a press release to investors but not before the United States Senate,” he wrote.

Lawmakers have railed against Mylan executives over the last year for its pricing controversy with the allergy shot EpiPen.

Scrutiny over Mylan’s pricing grew after a government watchdog recently reported that the company was overpaid by hundreds of millions of dollars for EpiPens because it was incorrectly paying a lower rebate to the federal government.  

Mylan had improperly classified the EpiPen, and ignored federal regulators when they informed the company that it was the wrong rebate, according to the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).

“It’s a shame government agencies and the company are ducking accountability under a voluntary process. One way or another, I intend to get answers for patients and taxpayers, Grassley said. 

He did not say whether he would still hold the Nov. 30 hearing.