Stop the Epipen Price Gouging

[WNYresident]

Stop the Epipen Price Gouging

We ask that there be an investigation and regulation into the 420% (adjusted for inflation!) increase in the price of Epipens since 2004.

Millions of people with severe allergies carry EpiPens to reverse life-threatening allergic reactions.

With this oppressive price increase, many EMT's and families are turning to manual syringes as a cheaper alternative, though doctors and patient advocates warn that its more complicated to get the correct dose of epinephrine and it administer safely with a syringe. Some families will be forced to hang on to expired Epipens, or worse, go without entirely.

There is no discernible reason for the increase other than Mylan's desire to use their monopoly to exploit the need for this life-saving medication for exorbitant profit.

Thank you.

http://www.petition2congress.com/207...price-gouging/

[WNYresident]

Life-Saving Allergy Treatment Is Becoming Too Expensive For Families To Afford

For most parents, back-to-school season means searching for this year’s trendy first-day outfit, stocking up on 3-ring binders, and making sure that summer homework is finished. When it comes to parents of kids with severe allergies, however, there’s an extra task on that list: Re-stocking their EpiPen prescription before their children enter a world where a lethal peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwich could be lurking a cafeteria table away.

“Make sure your child always has an EpiPen(R) Auto-Injector within reach,” reads item number 2 on the “Back To School Homework for parents” webpage hosted by the EpiPen brand owner, pharmaceutical company Mylan.

Last year, about 3.6 million prescriptions were written for EpiPens, which expire each year and need to be replaced.

But Mylan has priced this life-saving medication, which can keep airways open during severe allergic reactions, far out of reach for many families. Over the past nine years, since Mylan bought the rights to the EpiPen, the price for the easy-to-use injectors has quintupled — increasing about 450 percent, from around $50 for one injector to $600 for a pack of two

https://thinkprogress.org/life-savin...b39#.9fg7x24dv

[BorderBob]

Over the past nine years, since Mylan bought the rights to the EpiPen....

There it is...capitalism at is very best. Perhaps all there needs to be is more publicity. Martin Shkreli caused a lot of grief with his jacking up the price of cancer drugs.





b.b.

[WNYresident]

This is what happens when one group if given a monopoly. I don't think that is actual capitalism. It is but there is not other product that can compete against it.

[300miles]

This is what happens when one group if given a monopoly. I don't think that is actual capitalism. It is but there is not other product that can compete against it.

How were they given a monopoly?

[WNYresident]

I believe patent lawyers hold the key. Only one company is able to make the product and that's it. That is why prices rise on a product when one entity has a monopoly on it. Just like a monopoly of services like we see in government.

[Jeff]

I believe patent lawyers hold the key. Only one company is able to make the product and that's it. That is why prices rise on a product when one entity has a monopoly on it. Just like a monopoly of services like we see in government.

I don't know if its even a patent issue is it? There is only one company making auto injectors now.

[300miles]

I believe patent lawyers hold the key. Only one company is able to make the product and that's it. That is why prices rise on a product when one entity has a monopoly on it. Just like a monopoly of services like we see in government.

That's capitalism. The patent protects all the research and development the company paid to design and produce it. Another company could create their own pen using a different design, or pay the original company for the right to use their original patented design.

[WNYresident]

I don't know if its even a patent issue is it? There is only one company making auto injectors now.

Has to be a patent issue. 1000000's of people use the device. They make billions on the item. What reason would there be for a competing company not to make a product that does the same thing. Copyright/patent laws.

[WNYresident]

That's capitalism. The patent protects all the research and development the company paid to design and produce it. Another company could create their own pen using a different design, or pay the original company for the right to use their original patented design.

I think patents eventually run out.. That is why you see generic drugs being produced after a while.

It's odd that someone hasn't made a competing product. Must be some type of laws preventing it.

[gorja]

There was an Israeli attempt at a generic EpiPen

http://www.thepharmaletter.com/artic...epipen-generic

http://www.pharmamanufacturing.com/i...elayed-by-fda/

[300miles]

EpiPen is a solid product, so newcomers have an uphill battle to get into the market. But there are competitors out there with a low market share. Would you prefer the govt subsidize these new products to give them a better chance?

[WNYresident]

DOn't subsidize. I'm just surprised no one has reproduced the item.

[gorja]

They have. one didn't pass with the FDA. Another one got recalled

Mylan's EpiPen Boosted as FDA Sees Holes in Teva Application
March 1, 2016 — 2:52 AM EST

Mylan NV may be able to curtail a decline in future sales of its EpiPen allergy-reaction injector after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration identified “major deficiencies” in an application for a competing generic version from Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd.

Teva intends to submit a response to the FDA, but expects the launch of its epinephrine injection to be “significantly delayed” until at least 2017, the company said in a filing to the Tel Aviv stock exchange Tuesday.

That may boost Mylan’s 2017 earnings by 20 cents a share, Evercore ISI analyst Umer Raffat wrote in a note to clients. “If there is a longer delay, outer year estimates may need more meaningful revision.”

The setback to Teva’s launch could provide a lift to Mylan’s specialty division as EpiPen is the unit’s main product. Analysts had forecast erosion of $200 million in EpiPen sales in 2017, Raffat said.

Revenue from Mylan’s specialty division rose about 1 percent to $1.2 billion in 2015, or 13 percent of total sales. The product got a boost in October after a rival version made by Sanofi was recalled because there was a chance that the device wasn’t delivering the drug.

Mylan shares rose less than 1 percent to $45.39 at 9:49 a.m. in New York. Teva dropped 1.4 percent to 217.40 shekels in Tel Aviv.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articl...=yhoo.headline

[Mindcrime]

Mylan is using value-based pricing to justify the cost increases. Basically, they're saying, "how much is your life worth to you?" In their eyes, EpiPen is still a bargain. This is what for-profit healthcare begets.