Republicans Press CMS for More EpiPen Details

GOP leaders of the House Energy and Commerce and Senate Finance committees are pressing the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services for more information about when agency officials first realized a popular allergy treatment was misclassified in the Medicaid program.

CMS revealed earlier this year that Mylan’s EpiPen, which was at the center of a drug pricing controversy, had been classified as a generic drug in the program, instead of a brand name drug. That means Mylan has potentially paid millions of dollars less than it should have to state Medicaid programs and to the federal government.

The lawmakers — House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton (Mich.), Health Subcommittee Chairman Joe Pitts (Pa.), Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee Chairman Tim Murphy (Pa.) and Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch (Utah) — want to know when CMS first realized the treatment was misclassified, when agency officials discussed the misclassification with Mylan and how much money the Medicaid program could have saved since 1997 had EpiPen been classified differently.

“Any ongoing discussions between Mylan and DOJ should not impede CMS’s ability to answer the Committee’s questions about Mylan and CMS’ own management of the Medicaid Drug Rebate Program,” the lawmakers wrote in a Dec. 9 letter that was released Monday.

Mylan announced a $465 million settlement with the Justice Department and other government agencies in October, but the DOJ has not confirmed the agreement. DOJ and Mylan declined to send witnesses to a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing last month on EpiPen, citing the pending matter. The hearing was postponed indefinitely.