The branded version costs around $600 for a 2 pack whereas the generic version will come at $300 for a two pack.
Advertisement
The uproar over EpiPen prices comes amid a tug-of-war between the Obama administration and private health insurers, who say they are losing money under a new health care law meant to provide access to the poor and uninsured. Richard Blumenthal, D-Connecticut, said in a statement Monday.
That raises the question of whether consumers will actually pay less for the generic version, said Walid Gellad, who heads the Center for Pharmaceutical Policy and Prescribing at the University of Pittsburgh. Sign up for our daily email alerts. But pharmacists say co-pay cards can not be used to purchase generic drugs, so essentially patients will still be paying $300. Pharmacists will be able to swap in the generic version if doctors write a prescription for the EpiPen.
The auto-injection device, which contains the hormone epinephrine, expires after a year. It allows people who complete educational training to carry and administer epinephrine through auto-injectors like EpiPens.
There’s now little competition for EpiPen. Following a firestorm about the price hike, the company has since announced will offer coupons to offset the high cost and that it will sell a cheaper, generic version of the drug. “And Mylan asserts that the generic is “identical to the branded product” – further calling into question the excessively high price of branded EpiPens”. “In short, today’s announcement is just one more convoluted mechanism to avoid plain talk, admit to price gouging and just cut the price of EpiPen”.
A generic competitor was expected in 2015 but has been delayed.
Some politicians have called for: Congressional hearings on the escalating pricing, an investigation by the Federal Trade Commission, and action by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to increase competition by hastening approvals of competitors’ products, the AP reported. The remaining $334 is split between pharmacy benefit managers, insurers, wholesalers and pharmacy retailers, according to Mylan.
Information requested by the lawmakers includes how many customers use Mylan’s savings card to purchase EpiPens, how the company’s patient assistance program works and how the company partners with schools.
Advertisement
But those moves won’t defray the cost of the “exorbitantly expensive” product for other health care players, including the government, insurance companies and employers, the senators said, which in turn pass those costs to consumers through premium payments.
