The maker of EpiPens will start selling a cheaper, generic version of the emergency allergy shots as the furor over repeated USA price hikes continues – and looming competition threatens its near-monopoly.
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In their letter, the lawmakers asked Mylan how much insurers paid for the EpiPen in 2009 and how much they pay now.
Democrat Elizabeth Warren and 19 other USA senators voiced concern to the chief executive of Mylan NV about the high cost of its EpiPen on Tuesday, calling the device used in the case of life-threatening allergies “exorbitantly expensive”.
The news comes as Mylan Pharmaceuticals announced it will release a generic version of the EpiPen later this year that will cost approximately $300 for a pack of two. It will cost half the price of the name brand, so about $300 for a two pack of EpiPens.
The firm reduced the out-of-pocket costs of EpiPen for some patients last week, but kept the list price at about $600, a move that legislators said was not enough.
According to CNN Money, Teva Pharmaceuticals is expected to launch their own generic version of the EpiPen next year, which would create additional market competition. EpiPen cost about $100 in 2008. Our decision to launch a generic alternative to EpiPen is an extraordinary commercial response, which required the cooperation of our partner.
The EpiPen is seen as the most reliable way to inject epinephrine and recover from an anaphylactic reaction. For patients who were previously paying the full amount of the company’s list price for EpiPen, this effectively reduces their out-of-pocketcost by half. “Your discount programs, however, represent a well-defined industry tactic to keep costs high through a complex shell game”, the letter, which also asked the company to answer detailed questions about Mylan’s pricing structure for the EpiPen and plans for the generic product, said.
With just one competitor, Mylan has a near monopoly on the device.
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Contending that they are looking to better understand Mylan’s recent efforts to increase access to EpiPens, the senators urged the company to respond to a total of seven multiple-part questions by mid-September.
