People are freaking out about a huge price jump in this life-saving medicine
School supplies are expensive enough, but now they just increased — at least for those needing to buy EpiPens. ICYMI, the “pens” are used to treat emergency, life-threatening allergic reactions, aka anaphylaxis, by pushing the EpiPen into one’s thigh, which releases a dose of epinephrine. Triggers can include anything from food and insect bites to medications and latex.
And the price for an EpiPen will now run around $500 — wait: it increased 400 (!) percent since 2008, according to the New York Daily News.
Whaaaaaat?!
Mylan is the pharmaceutical manufacturer of the EpiPen, and consumers are NOT happy about the price hike.
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Doctors are not happy either.
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“I see it firsthand that a lot people call me and tell me they can’t afford the medicine,” Dr. Douglas McMahon, an allergist in Maplewood, Minnesota, told New York Daily News. “This is the only life-saving medicine they can use for this and it puts a lot of restraint on them. People will have to make lifestyle changes if they can’t afford this.”
And it goes without saying that parents are not pleased…
Thanks Mylan for trying to gauge me for my daughters #Epipen – cause hey, why not profit from kids with with severe allergies. #shameonyou
— Bryce Johnson (@BryceOJohnson) August 11, 2016
Of course, many parents have EpiPens on hand in case their children suddenly need it. The Pens require a prescription and expire within a year. Plus, EpiPen’s website suggests having two EpiPens on hand at all times, which means consumers will have to fork out even more money. false
As a result of patients asking for a cheaper alternative, Dr. McMahon has been trying to make his own version of the Pen and it would retail for around $50. But it still needs to get FDA-approved.
Meanwhile, what does the EpiPen manufacturer say?
EpiPen prices have “changed over time to better reflect important product features and the value the product provides,” and “we’ve made a significant investment to support the device over the past years,” Mylan said in a statement, according to NBC News.
Bernie Sanders, who’s a member of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, is also NOT into the price increase.
“The drug industry’s greed knows no bounds,” he said in a statement to NBC News. “There’s no reason an EpiPen, which costs Mylan just a few dollars to make, should cost families more than $600. The only explanation for Mylan raising the price by six times since 2009 is that the company values profits more than the lives of millions of Americans.”
There's no reason an EpiPen, which costs Mylan just a few dollars to make, should cost families more than $600. https://t.co/rVWUlMxD0Q
— Bernie Sanders (@SenSanders) August 18, 2016
Basically, NO ONE is happy about the ~insane~ jump in price.
Some are looking at it comically:
i should just eat a peanut once a year to get the money's worth from my epi-pen
— tiana (@tiaannaaaaa) August 19, 2016
But, of course, none of us are actually laughing. Though it may be all we can do… while we save up for the Pens, of course.
“I have patients who are afraid to walk outside or go to restaurants because of this,” Dr. McMahon said. “Nothing justifies this price increase.”