EpiPen to be more affordable after outrage over price hike

Patients will also be able to order the injected emergency medicine for severe allergic reactions directly from the company, to help lower costs, Mylan said.

Bresch (the daughter of West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin) was the company’s lobbyist, and according to news reports was highly successful both as lobbyist and CEO in getting legislation passed promoting EpiPen use.

It’s the latest in a string of controversies over rising drug prices that have caught the attention of lawmakers on Capitol Hill.

She added: “We responded this morning. ensuring that everyone who needs an EpiPen has an EpiPen”. The U.S. Democratic presidential nominee, Hillary Clinton, said Wednesday that it was “outrageous” to increase so drastically the price of a product that people needed to survive. “Therefore, I demand that Mylan take immediate action to lower the price of EpiPen’s for all Americans that rely on this product for their health and safety”.

Those double-digit jumps have drawn widespread criticism from politicians, including presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton, who argued against predatory drug pricing past year. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, and Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., have sent letters to Mylan demanding an explanation for the increase.

Mylan said it would offer $300 coupons to “patients who are facing the burden of higher out-of-pocket costs”.

The list price for a pair of EpiPens has been raised repeatedly from $93.88 in 2007, when Mylan acquired the product, according to Elsevier Clinical Solutions’ database of prices set by manufacturers. Mylan has said that many people get EpiPens with no out-of-pocket cost. Bernstein analysts said they expect a 20% to 25% hit on EpiPen revenues, creating a 3% to 4% hit to Mylan’s EPS for the next few years.

McMahon, who developed the device, said it requires a couple more steps than the EpiPen but has been tried by patients who found it simple to use.

Since 5-year-old Matthew Nicholls was diagnosed with a tree-nut allergy at age 2, his mom and dad have spent more than $1,000 on EpiPens that have never been used – but have to be kept on hand in case Matthew has a potentially life-threatening allergic reaction. “Patients deserve increased price transparency and affordable care”. Roughly 40 million Americans have severe allergies to spider bites, bee stings and foods like nuts, eggs and shellfish. She carries a package with her at all times, keeps one in her classroom at school, and another one is kept with the school nurse, her father said. The company is also doubling eligibility to households earning up to 400 percent of the federal poverty level, or $97,200 for a family of four.

The statement didn’t mention the retail price or the price increases at all. In an interview on CNBC, Chief Executive Heather Bresch, whose father is a Democratic senator, blamed public policy.

It noted it offers a “savings card” that brings the cost of the device to nothing for “nearly 80 percent of commercially insured patients”. Pharmaceutical companies don’t typically make their profits off of middle-income patients who have to choose between gas money and their kids’ allergy meds; rather, they count on big payments from insurers, who pass it on to consumers in the form of higher premiums.

Mylan joins a growing list of drugmakers, Turing Pharmaceuticals and Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc. among them, that have been called out after mammoth price hikes for the drugs they sell, with little or no innovation.