EpiPen maker Mylan to cut and restructure workforce

Generic drugmaker Mylan, which had drawn public ire for hiking the price of its life-saving EpiPen allergy treatment, said yesterday that it would restructure and cut less than 10 per cent of its global workforce as it integrated acquisitions.

Mylan had been under investigation by the US government, and its chief executive officer Martin Shkreli was summoned by the US Congress to testify on raising the price of a pair of EpiPens to more than $600 from $100 in 2008. (See: Mylan raises prices of allergy medication EpiPens 500%) 

The company said in a regulatory filing that it would implement restructuring programmes in certain locations. At Tuesday's market close, its shares had fallen 25 per cent since August, when it first came under public scrutiny by former US presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.

Mylan, which had about 35,000 employees, said in the filing that it would take cost-cutting measures, including workforce actions, after making a significant number of acquisitions. It bought Sweden's Meda earlier this year and Abbott Laboratories'  branded specialty and generics business in non-US developed markets in 2015.

The company said it would disclose details of its restructuring efforts, including their cost, as it finalised the plans.

Mylan had been under investigation and faced searing criticism over steep price increases of its life-saving EpiPen auto-injector, which is used for severe allergic reactions.

The company said it would implement restructuring programmes in certain locations, but did not provide further details.

According to spokeswoman Nina Devlin, Mylan had about  35,000 employees. 

The US Senate Judiciary Committee in late November postponed a hearing on Mylan's $465 million settlement for resolution of charges that it underpaid government healthcare programmes by misclassifying its EpiPen treatment.

Earlier in November, Mylan said that it had suffered a third-quarter loss due to the money it had set aside for the settlement.

According to the Canonsburg, Pennsylvania-based company, it expected EpiPen to account for 6 per cent of total sales in 2017.