North Jersey Senator's Bill To Provide Tax Incentive To Retailers Who Keep EpiPens Affordable

A North Jersey state senator will introduce legislation providing a tax credit to EpiPen retailers to keep the lifesaving prescription drug affordable given the 400 percent markup its manufacturer has plagued customers with since 2007.

Senator Kevin O’Toole said he would sponsor a bill allowing any retailer who sells an EpiPen at the 2009 price of $100 to quality for a tax deduction of $509 — the difference in price from then until now for a pair of syringes.

“For the manufacturer to raise the price by more than 500 percent in less than 10 years, there is no justification,” O’Toole (District 40) said in a statement issued Friday. “What has happened under Mylan’s watch is unconscionable."

Mylan Chief Executive Officer Heather Bresch and the company has dealt with a firestorm of criticism recently as news reports surfaced about massive EpiPen price hikes, according to Slate.com.

The price increase comes at the same time Bresch upped her own salary by 671 percent, according to Forbes.

But Bresch is doing something to reportedly help patients. She announced on Thursday that the company was increasing financial assistance to patients to reduce their out-of-pocket costs, The New York Times reported. However, the company did not say it would lower the pen's list price, the report stated.

It is not the first time O’Toole has sponsored legislation designed to protect children with life-threatening allergies.

O’Toole was the primary sponsor of a 2015 law requiring all New Jersey schools to maintain a supply of epinephrine permit trained employees, such as nurses, to administer it to any student experiencing an anaphylactic reaction. He sponsored a similar law earlier this year requiring the same of summer camps.

Email: daniel.hubbard@patch.com

Photo: An EpiPen — By Intropin, used with permission via Creative Commons license