If you’ve been struggling to afford EpiPens you may not realize that you’ve had other, cheaper, options and more on the way.
Senator Richard Blumenthal is trying a legislative approach to controlling prices. Yesterday he unveiled a proposed bill that would allow the government to step in if drug companies drastically raised a drug’s price. He said that’s what happened with EpiPen‘s maker, Mylan. Blumenthal said the price of an EpiPen jumped from roughly $50 a decade ago to now upwards of $700, and are still in short supply.
“Epinephrine has long been available, it’s the injectors under patent by Mylan at that enable it to price couch and profiteer,” said Blumenthal.
Those days may be ending soon. The FDA gave Mylan some competition this week when it allowed another pharmaceutical company to make injectors that work the same way as EpiPens.
“Now there will be two different manufacturers making them into different places, so the chances of having those of shortages in the future are less because people will be having additional options,“ said Dr. Michael White from the UConn School of Pharmacy.
For a while now, Mylan has offered its own generic EpiPen at about half price, or $300, however, Dr. White said this new competition could halve the price yet again.
“That would put its price point somewhere in the neighborhood of at, or below, $150, if that would be a major relief for a lot of people,” said Dr. White.
Many consumers don’t know that there’s already an even cheaper option then that would be on the market, called AdrenaClick. It’s the same epinephrine with an injector that works in a slightly different manner. It sells for only $110 for a two pack. Dr. White advised that you go see a doctor first, before switching, to make sure you know how to use it correctly.