It also comes less than a week after Mylan announced it was taking immediate action to make the EpiPen more accessible for some patients.
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Doctor Roger Friedman, an allergist with Ohio ENT & Allergy Physicians says even though patients will still be paying a lot, EpiPens and the generic version of them is still the way to go.
The indications for use of the EpiPen and Adrenaclick are the same: life-threatening allergic reaction called anaphylaxis. Unused injections expire after one year. Today the cheapest price for the lifesaving product is $614 for a two-pack, up from a previous cost of $100 for the same quantity.
Heather Bresch, the CEO of Mylan, has defended the rise in price of the branded version. Mylan “aims to continue ripping off some segment of the marketplace – both consumers who do not trust or know about the generic, and perhaps some insurers and payers constrained from buying a generic”.
Meanwhile, Mylan NV said in a press release its United States subsidiary will launch “the first generic to EpiPen Auto-Injector (epinephrine injection, USP) at a list price of $300 per generic EpiPen two-pack carton, which represents a discount of more than 50 per cent to the Mylan list price, or wholesale acquisition cost, of the branded medicine”.
The company reduced the out-of-pocket costs of EpiPen for some patients last week, but kept the list price at about $600, a move that lawmakers said was not enough. “These are measures that Mylan is taking to lower the price, but notice it has not lowered the list price of the drug at all”.
U.S. Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME), the chairwoman of the Senate Aging Committee, said that patient assistance programs don’t help people participating in government healthcare programs like the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), Medicaid and Medicare.
In their letter, the senators questioned Mylan over assurances that it guarantees anyone access to EpiPens through accessibility programs they say “represent a well-defined industry tactic to keep costs high”. “The price of the generic is still three times higher than the cost of the branded EpiPen in 2007”. It may give up far less, as a proportion of the price, on the generic version, said analysts.
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Mylan did not immediately respond to request for comment. There is now little competition for EpiPen, with the only rival product being Adrenaclick, which carries a list price of $461.
