[UPDATE: Rep. Randall Friese contacted the ADI on Friday. In an email, he advised:
“As you are likely aware Mylan contributed to my re-election campaign on December 3, 2015 well before it’s unfair pricing polices came to light.
I have informed Mylan that although I still support the legislation we worked on, which increases the availability of epinephrine in public places for the emergent treatment of allergic reactions, I do not support their pricing policy. I also informed them through their Arizona representative that I would be returning the contribution.
Mylan’s representative informed me that other candidates that wished to return campaign contribution funds were informed that a donation in the same amount could be made to a charity of their choice.
My campaign committee has donated $250 to the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America (AAFA). My campaign treasurer (copied on this communication) has also sent a letter to Mylan informing them of this donation.”]
Arizona State Rep. Dr. Randy Friese has accepted money from the political action committee of Mylan Incorporated. Mylan made headlines this summer when it engaged in what many believe was price gouging related to its EpiPen product.
On Tuesday, New York’s Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman announced that his office has commenced an investigation into Mylan Inc, according to a press release. “A preliminary review by the Office of the Attorney General revealed that Mylan Pharmaceuticals may have inserted potentially anticompetitive terms into its EpiPen sales contracts with numerous local school systems,” reads the Attorney General’s announcement. “Mylan’s EpiPen is the predominant epinephrine autoinjector—a device and drug used in cases where an individual suffers a severe allergic reaction, which could otherwise lead to death—in the U.S. market.”
“No child’s life should be put at risk because a parent, school, or healthcare provider cannot afford a simple, life-saving device because of a drug-maker’s anti-competitive practices,” Schneiderman said in the statement.
The Arizona Daily Independent attempted to contact Dr. Friese on Wednesday though his campaign, however the only contact address available on his campaign website was his legislative email address. Statute prohibits use of State resources for campaign purposes.
Dr. Friese did not respond to our inquiry has to whether he would return the Mylan Inc. PAC contribution in light of the controversy.
In his article for Gizmodo.com, EpiPen Price Gouging Complaints Have Flooded the FTC For Years, Matt Novak writes:
By now you probably know the story of the life-saving EpiPen and the company that took it from a product that generated a measly $200 million in 2007 and turned it into a $1 billion-a-year cash-printing machine. That company, Mylan, used a neat little trick: It simply raised the price. And it may have taken Congress and the media awhile to catch on, but consumers definitely knew. In fact, allergy sufferers were filing complaints with the FTC about Mylan’s price gouging as early as 2012.
Friese appears to be the Arizona Legislature’s darling of Big Pharma, according his campaign finance records. The power companies and insurance agencies seem to favor him, to a lesser extent, as well.
In 2015, Rep. Randall Friese stood by as Governor Doug Ducey signed Rep. Heather Carter’s bill HB2645, which allowed Theranos to prosper. In June, the ADI reported that Walgreens announced that it had informed Theranos that it would terminate its relationship and would close operations at all 40 Theranos Wellness Centers at its stores in Arizona.
In August, the Phoenix Business Journal reported that Theranos intended to “appeal a federal decision that would bar it from operating a lab in California among other sanctions.” The Wall Street Journal reported that the “Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the agency that oversees U.S. labs, also banned Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes from the blood-testing business for at least two years,” after they found that the company’s California lab posed an “immediate jeopardy to patient health and safety.”
On Wednesday, in his article The EpiPen Debacle Coupled With Theranos And Turing: Is This Industry Broken?, contributor to Forbes Magazine, Bill Rader noted:
As the CEO of a life science company, I have watched with concern the debacle of the Mylan price hike on the life-saving EpiPen, and with absolute contempt for the (debatably nefarious) actions of Martin Shkreli of Turing Pharma. You remember this guy, pumping his profits citing research and development costs, while patients suffered.
Radar concludes, “The fact stands: they made a very bad choice, and on the heels of other bad choices by a few individuals, and have created a mess for the industry at large.”
Yet, it appears Dr. Friese is quite comfortable with Mylan’s choice to support him with money made from suffering patients.
| Mylan Inc. Political Action Committee AZ 700 6th St NW, Ste 525, Washington, DC 20001 | 12/03/2015 | $250.00 | $250.00 |
| MEDNAX Inc. Federal Political Action Committee 1301 Concord Ter, Sunrise, FL 33323 | 04/20/2015 | $1,000.00 | $1,000.00 |
| Pinnacle West PAC 400 N 5th St, Phoenix, AZ 85004 | 12/17/2014 | $500.00 | $500.00 |
| OPHTHALMOLOGISTS PAC 3834 N Paseo del Sol, Mesa, AZ 85207 | 12/23/2014 | $100.00 | $100.00 |
| Blue Cross and Blue Shield of AZ PAC PO Box 13466, PAC ID #1333, Phoenix, AZ 85002 | 01/02/2015 | $200.00 | $400.00 |
| FARMERS EMPLOYEES AND AGENTS PAC 16001 N 28th Ave, Phoenix, AZ 85053 | 01/06/2015 | $50.00 | $50.00 |
| ArDPAC – Arizona Dental Association 3193 N Drinkwater Blvd, Scottsdale, AZ 85251 | 01/06/2015 | $300.00 | $300.00 |
| Genen PAC 1 Dna Way, South San Francisco, CA 94080 | 05/29/2015 | $200.00 | $200.00 |
| Pfizer PAC 235 E 42nd St, New York, NY 10017 | 08/25/2015 | $300.00 | $300.00 |
| SALT RIVER PROJECT POLITICAL INVOLVEMENT COMMITTEE PO Box 52025, Phoenix, AZ 85072 | 10/14/2015 | $600.00 | $600.00 |
| Opthalmologists PAC I.D. 1133 3834 N Paseo del Sol, Mesa, AZ 85207 | 12/11/2015 | $200.00 | $200.00 |
| Pinnacle West Capital Corp. PAC 1016 PO Box 53999, Phoenix, AZ 85072 | 12/14/2015 | $500.00 | $500.00 |
| Arizona Podiatry, P.A.C. 600 S Dobson Rd, # D-35, Chandler, AZ 85224 | 12/15/2015 | $300.00 | $300.00 |
| Blue Cross and Blue Shield of AZ PAC PO Box 13466, Phoenix, AZ 85002 | 12/22/2015 | $200.00 | $400.00 |
| OPTOMETRIC POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE OF ARIZONA 1702 E Highland Ave, Ste 213, Phoenix, AZ 85016 | 01/01/2016 | $400.00 | $600.00 |
| Cox Political Action Committee 1550 W. DEER VALLEY RD, C/O: GREG ENSELL, PHOENIX, AZ 85027 | 01/04/2016 | $150.00 | $350.00 |
| AZ OSTEOPATHIC MEDICAL ASSN PAC 5150 N 16th St, Ste A122, Phoenix, AZ 85016 | 01/05/2016 | $300.00 | $300.00 |
| SW Gas Arizona Political Action Committee (GAZPAC) PO Box 52075, Phoenix, AZ 85072 | 01/05/2016 | $200.00 | $200.00 |
| Arizona Dental Association 3193 N Drinkwater Blvd, Scottsdale, AZ 85251 | 01/06/2016 | $250.00 | $250.00 |
| Farmers Employees & Agents PAC FEAPAC 16001 N 28th Ave, Phoenix, AZ 85053 | 01/06/2016 | $100.00 | $100.00 |
| AZHHA PAC, State Account 2800 N Central Ave, Ste 1450, Phoenix, AZ 85004 | 01/07/2016 | $350.00 | $350.00 |
| CIGNA Political Action Committee Two Liberty Place, 1601 Chestnut St, Philadelphia, PA 19192 | 01/07/2016 | $250.00 | $250.00 |
| ARIZONA PHARMACY ASSOCIATION PAC 1845 E Southern Ave, Tempe, AZ 85282 | 01/08/2016 | $150.00 | $150.00 |
| LEWIS ROCA ROTHGERBER PARTNERS’ POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE 201 E Washington St, Ste 1200, Phoenix, AZ 85004 | 05/12/2016 | $200.00 | $200.00 |
| OPTOMETRIC POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE OF ARIZONA 1702 E Highland Ave, Ste 213, Phoenix, AZ 85016 | 05/22/2016 | $200.00 | $600.00 |
| Arizona Medical Association PAC General Fund 810 W Bethany Home Rd, Phoenix, AZ 85013 | 07/20/2016 | $700.00 | $700.00 |