AHF, Drug Pricing Advocates Protest Against USC Pharmacy Dean Reaping $6M Serving on EpiPen Board

In Advocacy, News by AHF

On Mylan: USC Pharmacy Dean Reaped $6M Serving on EpiPen Board—LA Protest Wed. Sept. 21 Takes Place as Congress Grills CEO 

Randall Vanderveen, PhD, R.Ph, Former Dean of the USC School of Pharmacy and a current professor, made millions while serving on the Board of the embattled and ethically-challenged drug company behind EpiPen.

LOS ANGELES (September 20, 2016)  Drug price advocates and people outraged over the price of Mylan, Inc.’s lifesaving EpiPen and other lifesaving drugs, including supporters of Proposition 61, the California Drug Price Relief Act, mounted a protest at the USC School of Pharmacy (1985 Zonal Ave., Los Angeles CA 90089) Wednesday, September 21, from 10:30am to 11:30am (PT) targeting Randall Vanderveen, PhD, R.Ph., the school’s former Dean and current professor and advisor to the Leonard Schaeffer Center for Health Policy & Economics at USC—and an extremely well-compensated member of Mylan’s Board of Directors. Advocates will also protest USC, whose reputation has been damaged by news of Vanderveen’s multi-million-dollar profiteering from serving on Mylan’s Board.  

The L.A. protest took place on the same day and during some of the time that Mylan CEO Heather Bresch testifies before the U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform (Sept. 21, 2pm ET] in Washington, DC, on the pricing and policies regarding the company’s lifesaving EpiPen, the price of which has risen 500% over the past decade. According to Bloomberg News, “CEO Heather Bresch is scheduled to appear before the U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform on Sept. 21, when members will question her about how the company raised the price of the life-saving injection to $600 for a two-pack, from $57 a shot when it took over sales of the product in 2007.”

Regarding Dr. Vanderveen’s drug company profiteering, a chart published in a Seeking Alpha article from February 10, 2015 (“Mylan Insiders Sell $118.4 Million In Stock To Avoid Transaction-Related Excise Tax”), revealed that Randall Vanderveen sold 106,551 shares of Mylan stock for $5,647,203—representing 297% of his pre-options exercise holdings sold.   

In a biting opinion piece by David Martin, Founder of M-Cam, published on CNBC on August 25, 2016, “Media outlets should be doing their stories on … members of Mylan’s board of directors, who were willing to endorse a business strategy as ethical as arms dealers in Lord of War.”  

Today, EpiPens sell for $608 for a package of two. In his online CNBC commentary, Martin noted,“In 2011, the same product sold for $164. In 2007, it was available for $57.” He ended his piece writing, “… we should demand accountability where it’s really due – the Patent Office that granted an unjustified and unpatentable monopoly, the FDA which props up the illusion, and a board of directors at Mylan who don’t take the time to inform themselves of their own company’s misdeeds.”

“Academic institutions like USC lend powerful credibility to operators like Mylan by letting institutional leaders like Dr. Vanderveen serve—and profit—on the boards of such ethically-challenged companies,” said Donna Stidham, RN, a mother, nurse for 43 years and AHF’s Chief of Managed Care. “USC and others should realize the reputational damage their institutions suffer by letting their leaders and professors get in bed with the Mylans of the world and work diligently to put a stop to it.”

 

Background on Prop 61

Proposition 61 would require the state of California to negotiate with drug companies for drug prices that are no more than is paid for the same drugs by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (DVA). Unlike Medicare, the DVA negotiates for drug prices on behalf of the millions veterans it serves, and pays on average 20-24 percent less for medications than other government agencies, and up to 40 percent less than Medicare Part D. 

Prop 61 Endorsements

Prop. 61 has been endorsed by AARP California, the California Nurses Association, U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders and his organization Our Revolution, former U.S. Secretary of Labor Robert Reich, civil rights and labor activist Dolores Huerta, Rev. Al Sharpton, the Urban League, AIDS Healthcare Foundation, Campaign for a Healthy California, Progressive Democrats of America, Social Security Works, and the Vote Vets Action Fund. A full list of endorsements can be found at:http://www.yeson61.com/endorsements

www.Yeson61.com

Paid for by Yes on Prop 61, Californians for Lower Drug Prices, With Major Funding by AIDS Healthcare Foundation and California Nurses Association PAC. FPPC ID#1376791 

Many of the sales made were done by way of Code M (exercise of conversion of derivative security) so the total shares sold after being converted from options often exceeds the total amount of shares owned prior to options conversion for the insider. This means that the MYL director or insider dumped options immediately upon conversion as included in the plans described by the company in the 14A.

M-CAM is a global financial institution that advises corporations and investors on corporate finance and asset allocation by underwriting intellectual property (IP) and intangible assets (IA).

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