This can make all the difference for the person experiencing an extreme allergic reaction such as anaphylaxis. While she praised pharmaceutical companies for “giving us revolutionary treatments”, she added, “I$3 t’s wrong when drug companies put profits ahead of patients, raising prices without justifying the value behind them”. The devices are extremely important to people with allergies – or parents of children with allergies – so they are usually encouraged to have multiple sets. In 2009, it cost about $100 for a pack of two EpiPens, now it’s more than $600. EpiPens reverse the severe reaction and are vital for people who literally can’t live without them.
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Brandeis High School nurse Claire Manning said staff and parents are trained in how to use EpiPens, but syringes would prove more hard in an emergency situation. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., wants the Federal Trade Commission to take a look.
Jackie Davis of Newport News, Va., and her husband, Cory, recently moved from health coverage through the military, which covered all costs for their son Michael’s EpiPens and asthma inhalers, to a commercial plan with a $6,000 deductible.
“Unfortunately, the story of EpiPen is not unique”. Unlike other countries, the USA government doesn’t regulate drug prices, though the Veterans Affairs and Medicaid negotiate big discounts.
Somebody’s got a Monopoly, and it’s not the pharmacies, or the patients.
Oftentimes EpiPens go unused but to not have them is to risk life and death in the event of an allergic emergency. People want the pens at home, in their offices or schools, perhaps in the vehicle. “Schools are feeling the budgetary effects of needing EpiPens on hand in order to be prepared for emergency situations”.
Approving a generic copy that is biologically equivalent to a branded drug is simple, but the FDA maintains no clear and consistent principles for generic drug-delivery devices like auto injectors or asthma inhalers. Sen. Claire McCaskill, a Missouri Democrat, and Sen. Susan Collins, leaders on the Senate Special Committee on Aging, wrote Bresch expressing their concern about the declining affordability of Epi Pens.
The Senators are requesting a briefing with Bresch to occur “at a mutually convenient time no later than two weeks from” Wednesday.
“Since there is no apparent justification in this case” for the EpiPen price hikes “I am calling on Mylan to immediately reduce the price of EpiPens”, Clinton said in a statement.
“That’s outrageous – and it’s just the latest troubling example of a company taking advantage of its consumers”.
Outrage over Mylan’s price increases for its EpiPen product continues to grow.
Now lawmakers are accusing the company Mylan, who produces it, of violating anti-trust laws.
This is not the first time this year Congress has gotten involved over the high cost of pharmaceuticals.
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New York Rep. Grace Meng on Tuesday asked the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee to hold a hearing.
