Lawmakers are demanding more information on why the price of lifesaving EpiPens has skyrocketed.
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EpiPens are used to ward off potentially fatal allergic reactions, and the price has surged in recent years. A two-dose package cost around $94 nine years ago.
According to the Senator, the price increase isn’t only hurting consumers who need the drug but it also is affecting school budgets, as many schools keep the drug on hand for emergencies. The school costs are passed on to taxpayers, he said.
Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, wrote Mylan, the company that manufactures the devices, and asked for more information on why the prices have increased.
In a separate letter Monday, Sen.
She’s also calling on the Federal Trade Commission to investigate. The Republican says he’s gotten almost 50 letters in the past few weeks from Iowans who need these devices in case they have a severe reaction, by accidentally eating nuts for example, that threatens to cut off their ability to breathe.
“As the parent of a child with severe allergies, I am all too familiar with the life-or-death importance of these devices”, Warner wrote. Joe Manchin (D-WV) and some have called for congressional hearings after learning of her huge pay hikes amid the Epi-Pen price increases. He said that more than 40 percent of USA children are insured through Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program, adding that “many of the children who are prescribed EpiPens are covered by Medicaid and therefore the taxpayers are picking up the tab for this medication”.
Mylan defended itself, saying most who buy EpiPen pay little or nothing as it is covered by insurance, and that it has distributed free EpiPens to more than 65,000 schools since 2012. His company’s cost for EpiPens almost doubled since 2014. “This shift has presented new challenges for consumers, and they are bearing more of the cost”, Mylan said. About 43 million people are at risk from anaphylaxis, or the severe, life-threatening allergic reaction that EpiPen’s injection of epinephrine is created to counteract. He demanded Mylan give him an explanation for what he says is a 400% price increase, to as high as $600 since Mylan bought the drug in 2007.
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Mylan spokeswoman Nina Devlin declined to comment specifically on the letters.
