Protest group says USC professor made almost $6M while serving on board of EpiPen company
LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- A group of protesters will gather at USC Wednesday morning to call for the resignation of a professor and advisor who they say earned nearly $6 million while on the board of the company that produces the EpiPen.
Protesters said Randall Vanderveen, a former USC School of Pharmacy dean and current professor at the Leonard Schaffer Center for Health Policy and Economics, earned $5.6 million in one stock transaction while serving on the pharmaceutical company's board.
The protest is being led by those affiliated with Proposition 61, which would require California to negotiate with drug companies to lower medication prices.
It is scheduled to happen from 10:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. and will be done at the same time the CEO of Mylan, the company that sells the life-saving emergency allergy medication, will testify in a congressional hearing.
Bresch will be defending the cost of the EpiPen, which has increased more than 500 percent, from about $100 in 2009 to more than $600 this year.
According to an advanced copy of her remarks obtained by ABC News, Bresch will say the company has no plans to lower prices despite a public outcry.
"Price and access exist in a balance, and we believe we have struck that balance," Bresch's prepared remarks to the U.S. House Oversight and Government Reform Committee say.
Republicans and Democrats have said that families struggling to pay for the epinephrine auto-injectors have every right to be outraged.
The drugmaker said in August it would start selling a cheaper generic version of the EpiPen that is identical to the branded option, but will have a list price of $300 for a two-pack compared to $608.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
