The pharmaceutical company that distributes the EpiPen is also a Clinton Foundation donor.
Hillary Clinton criticized the company, Mylan, on Wednesday, calling its price hikes of the life-saving medical device “outrageous.”
“It’s just the latest troubling example of a company taking advantage of its consumers,” said Clinton.
But those remarks highlight Clinton’s radio silence on the price of the EpiPen, which has grown steadily since 2007, when Mylan acquired rights to sell the 50-year-old drug.
EpiPen injections, which help stop potentially fatal allergic reactions, cost $57 in 2007. They now run $609. According to CNBC, the price of EpiPens has increased at a steady rate in those nine years.
As of May 2011, the price was $165. That rose to $350 in 2014 and $461 last year.
The Clinton Foundation partnered with Mylan at a time when it was raising prices on the EpiPen, which had been distributed by Merck.
Ironically, the company partnered in 2009 with the Clinton Foundation to provide a lower-cost alternative for four HIV drugs. Clinton Foundation records show that Mylan has donated between $100,000 and $250,000 to the Foundation. It is not clear when the donation was made, but it likely corresponded with the 2009 partnership.
According to a Clinton Foundation press release, Mylan pledged to offer the drugs for $425 per year by 2010. The cost was 28 percent lower than competing drugs, according to the Clinton Foundation.
It is not clear if Mylan followed through with its pledge or what the cost of the drugs is today.
Other Democratic politicians are tied to Mylan. The company’s CEO, Heather Bresch, is the daughter of West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin, a Hillary Clinton supporter.
Bresch became CEO of the company in Jan. 2012. Prior to that, she was a lobbyist for the company. She was appointed president in 2009.
She has seen her salary increase from $2.4 million since 2007 to $18.9 million last year, according to NBC.
The Daily Caller reached out to the Clinton Foundation for comment and will update with any response.
