As EpiPen Controversy Erupted, CEO Unloaded $5M in Stock

Heather Bresch sold 100K shares in deal meant to thwart appearance of insider trading
By Polly Davis Doig,  Newser Staff
Posted Aug 28, 2016 7:34 AM CDT
As EpiPen Controversy Erupted, CEO Unloaded $5M in Stock
In this 2008 file photo, Mylan Pharmaceuticals CEO Heather Bresch poses for a photo in her office in Canonsburg, Pa.   (AP Photo/Dale Sparks, File)

Mylan CEO Heather Bresch has taken her fair share of scrutiny lately over EpiPen's soaring price, her own soaring salary, her dad, and even a since-rescinded MBA from West Virginia University. But even as her company's controversy grew, Bresch did something else that's getting scrutinized: She unloaded about 100,000 shares of stock on August 9, to the tune of a $5 million profit. Bresch did so under a 10b5 plan, which spans a certain waiting period and are set up to avoid the appearance of insider trading, reports the Guardian. "Yet," as the Guardian writes, "Bresch did not need insider information to know that trouble lay ahead."

The grumbling about the price of EpiPen goes back to at least last September, when Bloomberg reported on EpiPen's marketing success story while noting the price had gone up 400%. Mylan subsequently hiked EpiPen's price again. In June, Wells Fargo noted in a report that Mylan had jacked prices on seven products by at least 100%, and on 24 products by at least 20%, hikes it said "could bring greater regulatory scrutiny and headline risk." Mylan shares went from $49.20 per share on August 19, 10 days after Bresch's sale, to $43.11 on August 24—a $3 billion loss in value, notes Raw Story. Bresch, however, didn't completely dodge that hit: She still holds about 925,000 shares, adds the Guardian. (Bresch, meanwhile, says she's no Martin Shkreli.)

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