U.S. lawmakers demand investigation of $100 price hike of lifesaving EpiPens

[moonshaz]

EpiPen maker Mylan has become the new boogeyman of the pharmaceutical industry.

Following complaints from consumers that the company had hiked the price of the emergency auto-injector by $100 in recent months for no obvious reason, members of Congress are calling for an investigation. The price has increased 450 percent since 2004, when a dose

Comments

[velvetunicorn]

That's so gross. In Canada, a lot of our drugs are subsidized but I still put off buying my inhaler because it's $100. I can't imagine what I'd do if my child required a prescription that was $1212! That's crazy

[velvetunicorn]

No, symbicort. My asthma is the same so when I do finally get it, it'll probably last me nearly a year. I have a prescription for ventalin which is usually less than $30 so I'll get that in a pinch. It just doesn't work as well. Fortunately, my allergies tend to be a spring / summer issue so I should be good

[simply_blah]

Why isn't there a generic of it? Epinephrine is cheap right? It shouldn't cost $100 let alone $600. It's bullshit.

[simply_blah]

For fuck's sake they have an expiration date!

[ninasafiri]

FDA rejected a generic version last year :/

[mimblexwimble]

It's the "pen" part that makes it expensive, they had a doctor on the news the other day talking about how families can get epi at affordable rates, but they then need to know how to administer it correctly (which gets even tougher under pressure)...

[sugartitty]

I really believe it when I hear big companies like this are run by sociopaths and narcissists. I don't know how the CEO of this company could live with herself otherwise. I would love to hear her personally justify this cost hike/her big raise to a lower-income mother of children with life-threatening allergies.

[lightframes]

Yeah... I wouldn't be able to enjoy a pay raise knowing a child might be dying somewhere because of me...

[arisma]

I won't even bargain at a yard sale because I feel like it would be cheating them out of money, so clearly there's two types of people in the world.

[scriptedending]

This is awful. I worked at a pharmacy and so many parents came in to get new ones for school and home every year, just in case. In the three years I was working, they went from about $110 to $200... and of course parents were peeved because insurance won't pay for multiple pens - some insurances don't pay for any. I cannot imagine how they must feel with the price being raised so ridiculously high - a lot of them probably just cross their fingers and hope the school nurse has one because they can't afford $600 for an extra.

[belandlix]

At first I thought this must be Martin Shkreli... but no surprise that the rest of the healthcare industry is run by similar sociopaths.

[screamingintune]

the CEO of the company doing this is Senator Joe Manchin's daughter.