Certain medications or latex can also cause a severe reaction. The price of a pack of two is now about $600 United States, according to Elsevier’s Gold Standard Drug Database.
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Many Wall Street analysts don’t expect the government will take action to force Mylan to roll back EpiPen prices, though the analysts say the attention could deter the company and some of its rivals from increasing drug prices further, thereby limiting one key tool for raising revenue. “Some patients and physicians are resorting to buying epinephrine ampoules and filling their own syringes”, said Dr. Thomas Casale, a professor of medicine at the University of South Florida and executive vice president of the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology (AAAAI).
In a statement responding to Senator Grassley’s letter, Mylan did not mention its pricing practices, but said it was proud of its discount programs that expand access to the medication. Each pen is one time use and they are only good for one year before they need to be replaced.
There’s another factor in the equation: increased cost-sharing, and high deductible plans in particular, have exposed more consumers to price hikes that once would have been borne by payers. Bresch, the current CEO, may catch up: She was paid $44.7 million over the last two years. A rival injector called Auvi-Q was recalled previous year because of potential inaccurate dosing, Raffat noted, and a third product has twice been rejected because of issues with the injector. “So, there’s no other option”. The needle inside injects the epinephrine into muscle tissue.
“Something is very, very wrong when drug companies value their profits over the lives of their customers”, Sanders tweeted Tuesday. “It is the only producer of an auto-injector pen that makes this epinephrine available to school teachers and parents and others who do not have the training to do the other kinds of injections that can be done”. The company’s CEO, Heather Bresch, is the daughter of West Virginia Sen.
Clinton echoed the concern, saying the price increase is “outrageous”, according to The Hill. “It’s not really a luxury”, Parikh said.
Q: How do EpiPens work? So it’s a huge cost on the patient.
“I think we are going to see an increase in anaphylactic episodes, and it’s truly a tragedy”, she said.
A spokeswoman for Mylan emailed a written statement from the company to CNN.
Mylan offers coupons which allow many families to pay little or nothing for the EpiPen, but families with no insurance or high deductibles are still paying hundreds of dollars.
Two other senators, Democrats Mark Warner of Virginia and Richard Blumenthal of CT, also wrote the company about the high prices. “Not only is this alarming price increase unjustified, it puts life-saving treatment out of reach to the consumers who need it most”.
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The company, which did not lower the drug’s list price, said it would reduce the patient cost of EpiPen through the use of a savings card, which will cover up to $300 of EpiPen 2-Pak. Mylan shares have lost 15% year-to-date, compared to the S&P 500’s gain of 7%. It also says that since 2012, Mylan’s EpiPen4Schools program has given schools more than 700,000 free EpiPens. Last year, almost 80% of commercially insured patients used the card to receive the device for free, according to Mylan. They’ve risen from $60 in 2007 to roughly $600 now.
