The $400 EpiPen

I've seen several articles on this subject recently. Its become this week's source of Internet outrage.
Mylan, over the course of several years, managed to corner the market on the EpiPens. They lack no competition and have raised prices on the pen from $57 in 2007 to $400.
Below is a solid synopsis of how this happened.

Mylan is former US-Based (W.Va-based) company now HQ'd in the Netherlands. Its CEO Heather Bresch is the daughter of U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin. She was also at the center of an academic scandal that brought down a president of WVU.

http://gizmodo.com/how-congress-the-fda-and-sarah-jessica-parker-helped-1785568792

 

Mr. Lugs and I had been wondering WTF happened.

One of the Lil' Lugs has a tree nut allergy.

First it was almond, then it increased to all the tree nuts...

THEN it decreased.

All that's left are pistachio, hazelnut and pecan, thank goodness.

There's hope it'll go away.

But every public school, every camp and every activity requires multiple EpiPens. Plus I have to carry one.

And the damn things EXPIRE after a year.

So the past couple of years I noticed the price going up.

Well a couple of months ago, I went to get the refills-- and thank God we've never had to use one....

And the damn things are $450. I got the package, and I laughed at the pharmacy and said, "Ha ha, very funny. Now run this through insurance."

And they were like, "We did."

And I was like, "That fucker Shkreli is at it again."

Little did I know it really WAS something like that.

Seriously... this is just wrong.

A lot of kids need the Epi so they don't go into shock and stop breathing.

Life threatening allergies are on the rise, and we don't know why.

But until we figure this out, we can't have the drug companies gouging.

 

A friend now living in Germany posted the story on Facebook and noted that this increase in only in America.

 

My nephew has a severe, life-threatening peanut allergy. Fortunately, his parents are able to afford the price increase, but it's still incredibly absurd. My friend was at CVS the other day and the guy in front of him was told his out-of-pocket costs for a pair of EpiPens was $684. The guy couldn't afford it and walked.

Looks like Congress is going to investigate. Hopefully they get the costs back down. These things literally cost like a buck to make.

 

Mylan cannot foresee the giant shitstorm when kids start dying because Mommys can't buy medicine?

 

The CEO of the company is the daughter of Sen. Manchin (D. -- West Va.). Yeah, Congress will do plenty.

 

Bullshit. It won't matter to the company. It's all about capitalism. If daddy didn't want his baby to die he should have worked harder

 

My co-worker is a struggling single mom with a teenage daughter who almost died from an out of the blue allergic reaction to pine nuts earlier this year. She cannot afford the multiple EpiPens she now needs for her daughter. She was practically in tears talking about this just the other day. I think some of us are going to chip in and pay for them. Just outrageous.

 

I remember Heather Bresch from that WVU scandal.

Even back then, she was a thoroughly horrible person.

 

My SO has a nut allergy diagnosed later in life -- peanuts and tree nuts. She's only ever had one reaction that sent her to urgent care because she felt her throat closing up after eating some pecan clusters a reader had sent to the paper. Prior to that she'd eaten various nuts her whole life.

Her current epi pens are expired because she can't afford to replace them. She's single and has a good job and extra income from renting her second room out to a roommate. Can't imagine what this is like for parents with kids with serious allergies whose situation isn't as favorable.

 

Mylan has also kind of increased the demand for EpiPens by frightening folks ...

 

What's wrong with generic Adrenaclick? You can get a package of two injectors at Walmart for around $150 to $200 ...