Sarah Jessica Parker has cut ties with Mylan, the company that makes EpiPen, after it was criticised for raising the price of the life-saving allergy product by 400 per cent. Parker announced her decision last night on Instagram.
(Instagram)
“I’m left disappointed, saddened and deeply concerned by Mylan’s actions,” Parker wrote on Instagram. “I do not condone this decision and I have ended my relationship with Mylan as a direct result of it.”
Sarah Jessica Parker became a paid spokesperson for Mylan in May of this year and spoke about her son’s life-threatening allergy on behalf of Mylan’s Anaphylaxis for Reel™ campaign. Parker appeared on TV shows like The View, The Doctors and Access Hollywood to talk about her son’s peanut allergy.
Gizmodo was the first to report on Tuesday that Parker’s role as a paid spokesperson for Mylan didn’t always include a disclaimer that she was speaking on behalf of the company. For instance, her appearance on the TV show The Doctors never mentioned that she was paid by Mylan. According to Parker’s publicist, she was always upfront with producers about her role with the company.
Parker contends that she was upfront in her social media posts, making it clear that she was a spokesperson for Mylan. Below, a screenshot from Sarah Jessica Parker’s Instagram page, when she did Access Hollywood and told the story of her son’s life threatening experience with anaphylactic shock.
(Instagram)
From Sarah Jessica Parker’s post on Instagram last night announcing her severing ties with Mylan:
I was recently involved in an initiative to raise awareness for anaphylaxsis. It’s a cause deeply important to me because of my son’s life threatening peanut allergy. The epinephrine auto-injector is a vital part of our family healthcare, as it is for the many who are at risk. I recently learned that the price of the Epi-Pen as been systematically raised by Mylan to a point that renders the medication cost-prohibitive for countless people. I’m left disappointed, saddened and deeply concerned by Mylan’s actions. I do not condone this decision and I have ended my relationship with Mylan as a direct result of it. I hope they will seriously consider the outpouring of voices of those millions of people who are dependent on the device, and take swift action to lower the cost to be more affordable for whom it is a life-saving necessity. – SJP
We reached out to Sarah Jessica Parker’s publicist for further comment but had not heard back at time of writing.