“Then in February the FDA rejected Teva’s generic EpiPen application. In June the FDA required a San Diego-based company called Adamis to expand patient trials and reliability studies for still another auto-injector rival.
Mrs. Clinton claims the EpiPen price hikes show the need for price controls, and she says she’ll require drug makers to “prove that any additional costs are linked to additional patient benefits and better value.”
The government thwarts competition, and so a life-saving Epi-Pen costs $500 where it was just $100 in 2008. When you have a monopoly, you can charge anything you like. The solution is not government price controls, Hillary, but increased competition.
Alieta Eck, MD For Real Health Care Reform
By Eugene Scott, CNN
Updated 1:32 PM ET, Thu August 25, 2016
Washington (CNN)The incredible increase in the cost of EpiPens, auto-injectors that can stop life-threatening emergencies caused by allergic reactions, has hit home on Capitol Hill.
One Democratic senator whose daughter has allergies has called for action and another Democratic senator’s daughter is CEO of the company responsible for the price hike.
Sen. Joe Manchin said Thursday Mylan, the company which manufactures Epipens which is headed by his daughter, is responding to constituent and lawmaker questions.
“I am aware of the questions my colleagues and many parents are asking and frankly I share their concerns about the skyrocketing prices of prescription drugs,” the West Virginia Democrat said in a statement. “Today I heard Mylan’s initial response, and I am sure Mylan will have a more comprehensive and formal response to those questions.”
His daughter, Heather Bresch who is Mylan’s CEO, announced Thursday the company is taking steps to make the product more affordable, including providing $300 savings cards to cut the price in half, though she told CNBC the health care “system” needed to be fixed.
https://www.cnn.com/2016/08/24/politics/epipens-congress-response/
Nowhere in the article is the real culprit identified. The FDA has made it impossible for any other company to enter the market and created a monopoly situation. With any competition at all, the price of this drug would decline rapidly. These bloviating congresscritters are just posturing. The problem is caused by our friendly government
Many people with extreme allergies and sensitivities must carry an unexpired EpiPen at all times. In other countries these would be provided and replaced (they expire) for free. This means poor people can just die from bee bites. You don’t have to be a Socialist to think that’s insane.
Giving people free EpiPens is not the answer (by this logic we should give everyone free medication… are EpiPens more critical than heart medication or insulin, etc, etc, etc. And worse – who will be deciding which drug is more critical than another.)
.
No. giving away “free” (there is no such thing) EpiPens is not the answer.
Allowing competition into the market is the answer.
.
.