The drugmaker at the center of a firestorm over hefty price increases on the lifesaving EpiPen put a special incentive plan in place more than two years ago that rewards executives if they hit aggressive profit targets.

In early 2014, the board of Mylan NV approved a one-time award for more than 100 employees that hinged on more than doubling the company's adjusted per-share earnings over a five-year period ending in 2018, Mylan's regulatory filings show. Meeting that goal would require 16% compound annual earnings growth—a tall order for a company that generated almost 90% of its revenue from the generally mature generic-drug business.

At the time it was granted, the award was potentially worth as much as $82 million overall to the company's top five executives. But it would be worthless if the company—whose star product is the EpiPen—fails to achieve at least 90% of its 2018 earnings target.

The board also approved shorter-term pay tied to equally ambitious targets for "adjusted diluted" earnings. For this year, the company's plan targeted 16% growth in that earnings benchmark, Mylan filings show. Last year, its executives produced 21% growth in adjusted diluted earnings, maxing out their bonuses even though net earnings fell.

Companies commonly give their executives incentives by linking their pay to earnings or stock-price goals, and companies are free to raise prices as they see fit. But some industry watchers say Mylan's incentives may have played a role in the steep price increases for the EpiPen, a medication injector that many school-age children and others depend on to reverse severe allergic reactions.

"They are being compensated very heavily on hitting [earnings per share] targets," said Ronny Gal, an analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. with a "buy" rating on Mylan's stock. "We suspect Mylan realized that their EPS targets will be tougher to reach and decided to raise prices on EpiPen to make that target more achievable," he said.

Mylan, in a statement, rejected the idea that its performance depended on any single product. "Mylan has a large and diverse business, with more than 2,700 products sold in 165 countries" and "has performed well across all business segments," the company said.

Since the incentive program was announced two years ago, Mylan has doubled the list price of the EpiPen, which delivers an emergency shot of epinephrine, bringing the cost to $608 for a two-dose package and the total increase since 2007 to nearly 550%, according to data from Truven Health Analytics.

Mr. Gal estimates that by the time the pricing controversy erupted, the EpiPen was generating about 10% of Mylan's revenue and 20% of its operating profit.

Mylan CEO Heather Bresch, in a CNBC interview last week, defended the price increases. She blamed high patient costs on insurers who set high deductibles and drug-benefit managers who make money by negotiating bigger discounts off increasing list prices.

Mylan has attempted to quell the EpiPen furor by increasing copay assistance for some consumers and promising to make available an identical generic form of the drug priced at about $300 for a two-pen pack. Mr. Gal estimates the moves could cut Mylan's operating profits from the drug by about one-third.

The company, based in the Netherlands but managed from Canonsburg, Pa., outside Pittsburgh, has grown from a sleepy generic maker to a global player with $9.4 billion in revenue last year. Pay has grown, too. Ms. Bresch, the CEO, earned $18.9 million last year, up from $9 million in 2013.

The EpiPen imbroglio isn't the first time Mylan has attracted bad publicity. In 2008, Ms. Bresch was found to have wrongly claimed to have an M.B.A. degree from West Virginia University. Ms. Bresch has said she thought she had done everything needed to earn the degree.

The company and its board also have been engulfed in a series of controversies. Some governance experts say the company has approved outsize pay and that too many of its directors are drawn from the area around its U.S. executive offices.

"This company seems to find itself in governance controversies all over the place," said Charles Elson, a corporate-governance expert from the University of Delaware who serves on two public-company boards. "If you see it over and over, you begin to wonder how strong a board they have."

A Mylan spokeswoman said that its board is "comprised of highly qualified, experienced and diverse individuals."

The Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating a land deal involving Mylan and Rodney L. Piatt, a local real-estate developer and the company's lead outside director. Mr. Piatt was chairman of the compensation committee when the board approved the incentive-pay awards.

The SEC investigation was sparked by a page-one article last year in The Wall Street Journal, which revealed that Mylan in 2013 moved into a new headquarters outside Pittsburgh, but never disclosed that land for the building had been partly owned previously by Mr. Piatt, who transferred it to a partner before Mylan purchased the property.

Mylan has said there was no need for any such disclosure because there were no direct dealings between Mr. Piatt and Mylan. Mr. Piatt didn't return phone calls seeking comment.

Mr. Piatt stepped down from the compensation committee in October 2015, days before Mylan disclosed the SEC probe.

Write to Mark Maremont at mark.maremont@wsj.com

 

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

September 01, 2016 08:05 ET (12:05 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2016 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
Mylan NV (NASDAQ:MYL)
Historical Stock Chart
From Feb 2024 to Mar 2024 Click Here for more Mylan NV Charts.
Mylan NV (NASDAQ:MYL)
Historical Stock Chart
From Mar 2023 to Mar 2024 Click Here for more Mylan NV Charts.