In signing EpiPen bill, Gov. Jerry Brown blasts pharmaceutical company Mylan – Los Angeles Times

Gov. Jerry Brown signed legislation Friday to allow California businesses and public agencies to have on hand medicine designed to combat severe, emergency allergic reactions. But in signing the bill, he offered a stinging critique of a drug company’s recent dramatic price hikes for the medicine.

“State government cannot stop unconscionable price increases, but it can shed light on such rapacious corporate behavior,” Brown wrote in a signing message for the bill, AB 1386.

Brown wrote in the message that Mylan, the company that sells the EpiPen, sponsored AB 1386 and similar legislation across the country to expand its use at the same time it was increasing prices 500% to more than $ 600 for a pack of two and boosting the annual pay of its chief executive to $ 19 million.

Brown also sent a letter to U.S. congressional leaders urging them to address the issue.

“What is needed is swift and strong congressional action, because states have no jurisdiction to curb these wanton price increases,” Brown wrote in the letter.