Clinton, the Democratic presidential candidate, on Wednesday said the price increase is “outrageous” and called on Mylan to immediately reduce the price of EpiPens. By using a savings card, patients will get as much as $300 toward their EpiPen 2-Pak, effectively reducing costs by 50 percent for those who were previously paying the company’s full list price.
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That has Congress considering a hearing to ask executives at Mylan to explain why the cost has gone up by 400 percent in the last nine years.
EpiPens are injection devices used to ward off potentially fatal allergic reactions, and the price has surged in recent years.
U.S. Rep. Erik Paulsen, R-Minn., co-chair of the House Medical Technology Caucus, on Wednesday sent a letter to Mylan CEO Heather Bresch, expressing concerns about the rising cost of EpiPens. “Thankfully we’re not seeing the same issues here as we are in the U.S.”, Povolo said in an interview. It pointed out its savings programs for patients and free EpiPens for schools, with around half of USA schools participating. The company also has distributed more than 700,000 free EpiPens to schools nationwide.
The CEO is the daughter of a US senator.
Dinglewood Pharmacy in Columbus has clients who have felt the burn of the price hike.
Clinton’s comments came after a bipartisan group of lawmakers called for investigations into the price increase of EpiPens, which are preloaded injections of epinephrine (adrenaline) that people use if they are having a unsafe allergic reaction that could result in death, if untreated.
In this Friday, July 8, 2016 photo, a pharmacist holds a package of EpiPens, an epinephrine autoinjector for the treatment of allergic reactions, in Sacramento, Calif. Price hikes for the emergency medicine have made its maker, Mylan, the latest target for patients and politicians infuriated by soaring drug prices. The price of the epinephrine inside the EpiPen is just one dollar.
“With many parents required to buy two or more sets of EpiPens just to keep their children safe, the high cost of these devices may either keep them out of reach of people in need or force some families to choose between EpiPens and other essentials”, the doctor group said.
“It’s not a mystery why drug companies raise their prices to obscene levels”, he added.
Mylan has plowed substantial sums in recent years into acquisitions and producing biologic drugs. “I$3 t’s wrong when drug companies put profits ahead of patients, raising prices without justifying the value behind them”, she said.
Lisa Johnson, a member of the leadership team of Food Allergy & Anaphylaxis Michigan Association, is anxious about school children during the upcoming school year, which she fears may be “catastrophic”.
“With the current changes in the healthcare insurance landscape, an increasing number of people and families have enrolled in high deductible health plans, and deductible amounts continue to rise”, the company said.
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Clinton’s comments came after a bipartisan group of lawmakers called for investigations into the price increase of EpiPens, which are preloaded injections of epinephrine (adrenaline) used in case of a unsafe allergic reaction that could cause death if untreated.
