A recent report alleges the mother of Mylan CEO Heather Bresch used her board position within the National Association of State Boards of Education to encourage schools to purchase the company's EpiPens, but the association maintains it did nothing wrong.

Bresch is the daughter of Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and Gayle Manchin, who was president of NASBE's executive committee in 2012. USA Today reported Tuesday that under Gayle Manchin's leadership, NASBE spearheaded an advocacy campaign to encourage states to purchase medical devices that fight life-threatening allergies, like EpiPens.

Mylan—which manufacturers the devices—gave a presentation at the association's annual conference that year about student health risks in schools, including food allergies, according to the newspaper. The company's efforts culminated in a NASBE initiative encouraging schools to purchase epinephrine injectors, with EpiPens being the primary injectors on the market.

"It just looked so bad to me," former NASBE Executive Director Brenda Welburn told USA Today. "She (Manchin) becomes president and all of a sudden NASBE is saying EpiPens are a good thing for schools." (Welburn left the association the same year Manchin was president.) http://usat.ly/2cwh66i

In a statement published on the association's website, current NASBE Executive Director Kristen Amundson said her group has strict standards for determining when to enter into funding relationships with other organizations. The association stands by its work relating to epinephrine.

"Following passage of federal legislation encouraging states to require schools to stock epinephrine, legislatures in over a dozen states passed laws in 2012-13 governing epinephrine and anaphylaxis response," she said. "NASBE recognized the important role state boards of education would play and stepped in to help them set policies that would ensure students' health and safety."

Amundson also said that NASBE has made transparency a priority since she joined the organization in 2013. The membership added a conflict of interest policy to its bylaws in 2015, she noted. http://bit.ly/2cTHGGZ

After the USA Today story ran, Manchin issued a statement saying her only concern in pushing the epinephrine policy was "how we can protect as many children as possible." Bresch called the report a "cheap shot."

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