The price of the pens have increased five-fold since 2007, to the current price of $633 for a two pack.
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Bresch is the daughter of Sen. So to aid them, Mylan on Monday announced to bring out a generic version of the EpiPen for those unable to afford presently available medication.
Bresch sits at the center of a controversy involving the pharmaceutical giant drastically increasing the price of the EpiPen, a life-saving emergency allergy shot. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., questioned those strategies.
Democrat Elizabeth Warren and 19 other US senators voiced concern to the chief executive of Mylan NV about the high cost of its EpiPen on Tuesday, calling the device used in the case of life-threatening allergies “exorbitantly expensive”.
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 lawmakers asked Mylan to answer detailed questions by September 12. “Mylan’s near monopoly on the epinephrine auto-injector market has allowed you to increase prices well beyond those that are justified by any increase in the costs of manufacturing the EpiPen”.
The price hike, which hit just as parents and students were preparing for a new school year, has led to an election-year uproar amid widespread concerns about high drug prices.
In further response to pressure from lawmakers and the public, Mylan Pharmaceutical announced this week that one of its US subsidiaries will launch a generic version of its EpiPen emergency allergy treatment. To help lower the consumer’s out-of-pocket costs if they are insured, Mylan announced last week it would offer larger discounted co-pay coupons, up to $300, and it expanded its patient assistance programs for brand-name EpiPens. They asked for information on EpiPen pricing, approval processes for competitor alternatives to EpiPen and the potential for making the drug available without a prescription. 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.
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Leaders of the House Energy and Commerce Committee sent a letter to FDA Commissioner Dr. Robert Califf about the lack of competition for auto-injection devices.
