Dear Linda,
Let’s cut to the chase: you’ve crossed the line into greed. Mylan’s price tag of $600 for the EpiPen—and the proposed $300 generic—puts a crucial, life-saving medication out of reach for countless American families working hard to make ends meet. It costs a mere fraction to produce, yet you’ve jacked up the price by a staggering $500 in less than ten years. Your recent announcement of a generic option at “half” the price? Let’s be real: you’re offering us a generic version that was once priced at $100 back in 2007, now with a 300% markup.
Do you think we’re going to thank you for this? Or assume we won’t notice the blatant price gouging? Your half-off announcement only highlights how relentless your greed has been. Families managing allergies can’t simply save up like we’re buying a luxury car; we need this medication constantly, and it expires annually. The struggle to afford new EpiPens starts over every year. My family needs three packs, and we’re not even sending our daughter to school yet. I know others who need five or six packs!
The few who can afford your outrageous prices have no choice; we’re cornered into paying them. Without this medication, our loved ones are at serious risk. You know there’s no real competitor out there, and we’re painfully aware too. So, you keep raising prices, and we keep paying. It’s a vicious cycle.
You’ve claimed that reducing EpiPen prices would hurt Mylan’s bottom line, but let’s talk about your salary—it’s gone up over 670% since you took over this product. With an annual pay of $19 million, it’s clear nothing satisfies your appetite for wealth. You pocket millions while we scramble to afford just another year of life-saving medicine.
Your refusal to lower prices shows that profits and personal gain take precedence over the lives of my daughter and countless families like ours who need multiple EpiPens to stay safe.
I want you to reflect on this, Linda:
- Every extravagant dinner you enjoy at a fancy restaurant is funded by families skipping meals to ensure their child has an EpiPen.
- Every luxury vehicle in your driveway is bought with money that could have gone toward car payments for families who sacrificed their only vehicle to afford this medicine.
- Every vacation home you acquire is financed by families who have chosen to forgo mortgage payments just to keep their children safe with EpiPens.
There are countless allergy families who either forgo EpiPens or are stuck with expired ones because they can’t afford this essential medicine.
You can go on TV and act as though you care about accessibility. You can pretend to be oblivious to the impact of your price increases on allergy families. You can offer coupons and new products that are still unaffordable, all while claiming you’re an advocate for allergy sufferers.
However, you can’t buy your way into our community with a few sponsorships. The donations you make are just a tiny fraction of the money you’ve essentially taken from hardworking families. Your philanthropy doesn’t signify compassion; it underlines hypocrisy. You will never truly be part of our community because it’s evident you don’t care about my daughter’s life or the millions of others like her. We can’t trust you.
You’ll never grasp the strength and compassion of the allergy community. I’ve seen many express a desire for you or your loved ones to experience a life-threatening allergy. But, as a parent of an allergic child, I would never wish that on anyone. We’ve witnessed the terror of anaphylaxis firsthand: the hives spreading, the struggle to breathe, and the horrific drop in blood pressure. We’ve held our children as they fight for air, clutching our overpriced EpiPens in trembling hands, hoping we act in time to save them.
We didn’t ask for this burden. For us, EpiPens are not a luxury; they’re a matter of life and death.
Here’s the kicker: if you were to suffer an anaphylactic attack, not one of us would hesitate to use our pricey EpiPens to save you. That’s the character of the community you’ve exploited for years, Linda.
I’m proud that my daughters will be part of this community. They’ll learn to value kindness and empathy over wealth. They’ll become strong, intelligent women who advocate for others and place human lives above personal gain. They will be the role models their own children will admire.
In essence, they will be nothing like you, Linda.
For more on navigating the world of allergies and home insemination, check this insightful piece on pregnancy and also explore fertility supplements to boost your chances of conceiving. This is a supportive community, and you can learn more about it in our blog about home insemination too.
Summary:
In a heartfelt letter, a father addresses the CEO of Mylan, criticizing the exorbitant prices of the EpiPen and the lack of compassion for families who need this life-saving medication. He emphasizes the struggle of allergy families and contrasts their sacrifices with the CEO’s lavish lifestyle, ultimately expressing the hope that his daughters will grow to be empathetic individuals, unlike the CEO.