Scavo described one of the most terrifying nights of his life, when he was rushed by ambulance to the emergency room, following a severe allergic reaction.
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Mylan NV, the embattled manufacturer of EpiPens, said Thursday it would help extreme allergy sufferers meet the costs of the life-saving devices after a five-fold price hike sparked outrage. “One stays at school; one stays at home”.
Since 2007, the cost of EpiPens has gone up 500 percent. She joined a large number of parents, educators, doctors, and general health and safety advocates who have been calling out Mylan for their actions, and it looks as if they may have had something of an impact. Patients deserve increased price transparency and affordable care, particularly as the system shifts significant costs to them.
Questions to a company spokeswoman about how the cards would be distributed and whether there would be any time limit on how long they could be used were not immediately answered.
Heather Bresch was on CNBC for 20 minutes today to respond to the furor over the EpiPen price increase.
Mylan says it will now provide savings cards worth $300 to patients who have to pay the full price out of pocket.
Mylan has hiked prices for EpiPen as frequently as three times a year over the past nine years. Stocks of biotechnology companies dropped across the board Wednesday after Clinton criticized Mylan and vowed to take action on drug prices if elected.
Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton criticized Mylan earlier this week for the high prices, and her campaign fired another attack after the company announced the discount.
“I would just say to please lower the overall cost, decrease the amount of money you’re paying your CEO and put it back into the general population and don’t take advantage of the 15 million Americans that rely on this medication to save their life”, said Kirsten.
Mylan, based in NY, also said it would double the number of people eligible for the company’s patient assistance program, which will eliminate out-of-pocket costs for uninsured and underinsured patients and families.
As ATTN: has reported previously, Mylan’s primary competitor, Sanofi, recalled an epinephrine auto-injector past year, leaving those in need of EpiPens with few other options.
According to Forbes, the epinephrine itself isn’t what’s expensive – and the drug is the most important part.
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Also, the company’s patient assistance program will now cover those with incomes up to 400 percent of the federal poverty level, compared with 200 percent previously. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., said in an interview Thursday.
