The EpiPen delivers a measured dose of epinephrine that is considered to be life saving for people who have allergic reactions to foods or insect bites.
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Responding to Bresch’s interview, Fox Business News analyst Liz Clayman said Thursday on MetroNews “Talkline” Bresch completely try to deflect the controversy onto insurance companies and Obamacare. “Competitors have been trying for years to challenge Mylan’s EpiPen franchise with low-priced alternatives-only to become entangled in the Food and Drug Administrations’ regulatory afflatus”. So has Bernie Sanders.
After the announcement, Klobuchar took to Facebook and called it a “welcome relief” – but noted it doesn’t address the root of the problem.
Mylan’s news release took particular issue with the Affordable Care Act, President Barack Obama’s signature health care law that the Democratic Party and Clinton continue to support.
The pharmaceutical company also provided this little infographic as a way to tell what it refers to as “the entire economic story” of the EpiPen.
“The leaders of this country need to quit putting their toe in this topic and really fix the system”, Bresch said, without explaining exactly what needed fixed. Copay coupons and discount cards lessen the financial pinch at the pharmacy checkout, but consumers don’t often realize that their health insurance is still picking up the majority of the full cost of the drug, which doesn’t change.
The price of EpiPen rocketed from around 90 euros to more than 500 euros since it was acquired by Mylan in 2007. On eight occasions during the next four years, the cost of EpiPen was increased by 10 percent each time.
Why is an EpiPen so expensive?
This week, Mylan joined other drugmakers such as Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc. and Turing Pharmaceuticals, who’ve been blasted for mammoth price increases. No one should be making bank off of the suffering of others.
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EpiPens accounted for 87 percent of all epinephrine prescriptions filled by pharmacies past year. The pens are only sold in two-packs, running consumers as much as $600 each. However, it might not be as safe because the dosage isn’t calibrated. In 2008, its reported spending on lobbying went from $270,000 to $1.2 million, according to opensecrets.org. It was later learned that even as officials were busy falsifying her records the university’s president was a former lobbyist for her drug company and a high school classmate of hers.
