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[Newsa] Latest Target In The Drug Price Wars? The Ubiquitous EpiPen

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• published: 25 Aug 2016
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Latest Target In The Drug Price Wars? The Ubiquitous EpiPen EpiPens are in your friend's purse and your kid's backpack. The school nurse has a few, as does Grandma. The medicine inside — epinephrine — has been around forever, and the handy gadget that injects it into your leg is not particularly new either. So members of Congress, responding to their angry constituents, want to know why the price of the EpiPen, which can reverse a life-threatening allergic reaction, has risen about fivefold in the past decade. The wholesale price of a single pen was about $47 in 2007, and it rose to $284 this summer, according to Richard Evans, a health care analyst at SSR. But consumers can no longer buy a single pen, so the retail price to fill a prescription today at Walgreens is about $633, according to GoodRX. It's the latest in a string of controversies over rising drug prices that have caught the attention of lawmakers on Capitol Hill. At least three senators have called for investigations into the price of the EpiPen, and Sens. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, and Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., have sent letters to Mylan, the drug's manufacturer, demanding an explanation for the increase. Blumenthal went a step further. "I demand that Mylan take immediate action to lower the price of EpiPens for all Americans that rely on this product for their health and safety," he wrote in a letter to the company. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., has asked the Federal Trade Commission to investigate whether Mylan has violated antitrust laws in its marketing of the EpiPen. And Hillary Clinton weighed in, calling the price increases "outrageous." "It's wrong when drug companies put profits ahead of patients, raising prices without justifying the value behind them," the Democratic presidential nominee said in a statement on her Facebook page. Mylan spokeswoman Nina Devlin said in an email, "We have reached out to every member of Congress who has sent us a letter, and we look forward to meeting with them and responding to their questions as soon as possible." She did not immediately comment on Clinton's statement. The EpiPen is a long, plastic tube that automatically injects a dose of epinephrine — or adrenaline — into a person's thigh to stop an allergic reaction. It's easy to use and portable. Mylan bought rights to the EpiPen in 2008 and launched an aggressive marketing and awareness campaign. That effort has made the so-called auto-injector a must-have for anyone with an allergy — perhaps to bee stings or tree nuts — that may trigger anaphylaxis, a life-threatening reaction in which the airwaves swell and close. According to an account by Bloomberg Businessweek, the company considered selling off rights to the drug, which is an old product, but instead launched a campaign to boost sales. Revenue rose from $200 million to more than $1 billion a year. The company itself touts its campaign "for increased anaphylaxis awareness" as what has helped drive prescriptions and sales of the device. "Ensuring access to epinephrine — the only first-line treatment for anaphylaxis — is a core part of our mission," Mylan said in a press release this week. And certainly people with life-threatening allergies are better off with easy access to the drug. But Mylan is better off too. That's because each EpiPen prescription creates a win-win sales cycle for Mylan. An EpiPen prescription actually includes two injectors. The FDA in 2010 recommended that patients have access to two, in case the first doesn't work, and Mylan complied by taking its single EpiPens off the market and offering them in two-packs. But often one prescription is not enough. People want the pens at home, in their offices or schools, perhaps in the car. So they might buy three or more two-pen packs. Schools and businesses also often keep them on hand in case a student or customer has an unexpected reaction. Plus, epinephrine has a short shelf life, so people have to replace...