January 9, 2018: In Trumpistan We Can always Trust Big Pharma

 

1/9/18: It only took a year, but the Trump administration is ready to launch an attack on America’s biggest drug problem! AG Jeff Sessions is gearing up to win the “War on Weed.” 

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Mylan chairman earns $97,600,615.

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Of course, Sessions’ attack on legalized pot won’t do much to help children subject to severe asthma attacks, children with dangerous peanut allergies and bee sting reactions, or others who keep EpiPens handy. These pens are used to mitigate life-threatening seizures. According to industry insiders it is estimated these devices, marketed by Mylan, cost no more than $30 to produce. When Mylan packages them, two to a pack, they charge $600. Even better (for the Mylan bottom line) the pens lose effectiveness after eighteen months. 

Then they must be replaced. 

Not even total victory in the “War on Weed” will help those who take Humira for crippling rheumatoid arthritis or Crohn’s disease. Since 2012 the price has doubled. Humira now sells for $38,000 for a twelve-month supply. That price is set by AbbVie, a company spun off from Abbott Labs in 2013. 

When asked to comment for a story by The New York Times, company officials politely declined. They may have been busy counting their money. AbbieVie had $25.6 billion in revenues in 2016. 

Almost two-thirds came from sale of Humira.

 

Of course, we all know drug companies are run by fine businesspeople and caring human persons. 

Fortunately, with a GOP-controlled Congress and a Republican in the White House, we no longer need fret about unnecessary government regulation. Two syringes of Humira cost $522 in South Africa, $822 in Switzerland and $1,362 in Great Britain, where socialized medicine is in play. Here we have the freedom to pay whatever price Big Pharma sets. This is why two syringes in the U.S. go for $2,669. That’s how capitalism is meant to work. 

In other great news, we can celebrate the tax cuts coming for Big Pharma’s top execs. Under Trump, hardworking CEOs like Richard A. Gonzalez of AbbVie will finally catch a break. In 2016, the last year for which public records are available, Gonzalez earned a paltry $20,970,924. You wonder how he managed to get by, earning only $89,913,309 from 2012 to 2016. 

And if you want to increase the price of Epi-Pens by 400%, as Mylan has in just seven years, you need a bold leader. Mylan has been blessed to have just such a man. That would be Chairman Robert Coury, who apparently worked a few hours of overtime in 2016. With time-and-half fattening his paycheck, he earned $97,600,615. This brought his total compensation, from 2012 to 2016, to $181,267,633. So Coury did manage to squeak by. 

You can find similar sad stories if you check out compensation at companies like Eli Lilly, Pfizer, AstraZeneca, GlaxoSmithKline, Bristol-Myers Squibb and Purdue Pharma to name a few. 

Of course, if the government hadn’t been so busy regulating them unfairly, the drug companies might have had a little more cash to hand out to top executives. Mylan had to pay a $465 million fine, because the federal government launched an investigation in 2014 under Commie Obama. The complaint accused Mylan of defrauding Medicare to the tune of $1.27 billion over ten years. That would be $1.27 billion in taxpayer-provided dollars.

 

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THE PLAN PUT IN PLACE on January 4, to allow offshore drilling in almost all U.S. coastal waters, hits a snag. The Republican governor of Florida says he doesn’t want drilling off his coasts. 

Secretary of the Interior Zinke has no choice but to agree, since the governor is a Republican and planning a run for the U.S. Senate in 2018. 

Also, Trump might not like looking at oil rigs pumping away, just off the coast of Mar-a-Lago. 

Okay, drilling off Florida’s coast is a bad idea!!! 

Drilling off Alaska – or California – or any other state? That is still a cool idea. Zinke loves drilling.

 

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