But here, Teva Pharmaceuticals, the company developing a generic epinephrine auto-injector is still a bit off from approval after it did not get approval from the Food and Drug Administration, with the agency citing “certain major deficiencies”.
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The senators, including Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and former Democratic presidential contender Bernie Sanders (D-VT), say the EpiPen is “exorbitantly expensive” and warn that its price has driven some patients to carry expired EpiPens, or even forego carrying them altogether.
The company raised the price without making any significant changes to the product.
Bresch is the daughter of Sen. In a separate letter to Bresch sent Monday, Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz (R-UT) and Ranking Member Elijah Cummings (D-MD) call on Mylan to turn over internal documents on its sales, communications, contracts and reimbursements related to its EpiPens.
Mylan has responded to the public outcry over the price hikes by expanding programs to make EpiPens more affordable and promising a cheaper, generic version. But the senators who signed the letter said the generic device still costs $300, three times more than the branded EpiPen did in 2007.
The letter echoes a request from the House Oversight and Reform Committee that asked Mylan to submit documents related to sales pricing and profits of the brand-name EpiPen by September 12.
The senators said Mylan’s near monopoly on the epinephrine auto-injector market has allowed it to increase prices well beyond increases in manufacturing costs.
Ubl’s post, which did not mention Mylan by name or acknowledge rising prices for EpiPen, also highlighted what PhRMA deems to be inefficiencies in the current regulatory system. The generic drug has been proved effective and is perceived as a good alternative over high-priced EpiPen devices. The price hikes of the EpiPen allergy-drug injector are “shameless” and “deceptive”, and another example of drugmakers pricing their products at whatever the market will bear.
There’s now little competition for EpiPen.
Many analysts have welcomed this move taken by Mylan. Coupon cards are a standard pharmaceutical industry strategy, one that leaves employers and taxpayers still footing at least two-thirds of a big bill and everyone facing eventual higher insurance premiums.
But this authorized generic isn’t the white flag people may have been expecting.
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The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform announced Monday it plans to launch an investigation into the matter. That’s a price far beyond the means of most families with kids threatened by possibly fatal allergic reactions.
