First, epinephrine is an unstable hormone; EpiPens need to be replaced so that the dosage inside remains correct.
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Like all drugmakers, Mylan periodically hikes its prices.
The price of Mylan’s EpiPen epinephrine auto-injector has gone up 400% since 2008. Now, a two-pack costs more more than 0.
Clinton, in a statement issued on August 24, said, “Mylan Pharmaceuticals has increased the price of EpiPens by more than 400 percent”.
Underlying reasons for the price increase – and for high drug prices in the USA generally – may be found in a study published Tuesday by the Journal of the American Medical Association.
Senators Susan Collins and Claire McCaskill, respectively the Republican chairman and Democrat top representative on the Senate Aging Committee are seeking an explanation from Mylan for the boost in pricing.
A Mylan statement Monday cited health insurance changes with higher deductible costs for many.
In 2007, when Mylan acquired the EpiPen, the company brought in $200 million in annual revenue. Mylan also said it has donated nearly 700,000 EpiPens to schools since 2013. “All involved must also take steps to help meaningfully address the USA healthcare crisis, and we are committed to do our part to drive change in collaboration with policymakers, payors, patients and healthcare professionals”. Mylan’s CEO Heather Bresch’s salary increased by almost 700 percent from 2007 to 2015, NBC News reported.
The Associated Press reported that Rep. Grace Meng, a Democrat from NY, asked the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee to hold a hearing to discuss the EpiPen hike. “Time and again, we see reports of a pharmaceutical company buying a prescription drug product and then raising the price dramatically”, she wrote. However, officials said in a statement that they realize more needs to be done to help patients with high-deductible plans.
Mylan is an unlikely target of drug-price scrutiny in that it sells mostly lower-priced generic drugs.
“Thousands of Americans rely on EpiPens in a given year, and perhaps no time is more important in the purchasing of these devices than the beginning of a new school year”, Meng wrote in a letter to the committee.
In a statement to NBC News, a spokesperson from the Federal Trade Commission said, “The Commission takes seriously its obligation to take action where pharmaceutical companies have violated the antitrust laws, and it will continue to closely scrutinize drug market competition on consumers’ behalf”. But EpiPen, introduced in 1987, is so well known that most doctors prescribe it without considering Adrenaclick, and pharmacists can’t substitute that for EpiPen, said Evelyn Hermes-DeSantis, director of drug information services at Rutgers University’s pharmacy school.
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At least seven of the company’s drugs doubled in price in 2016 and another 24 jumped 20%, Wells Fargo senior analyst David Maris wrote.
