Lawmakers demand information on EpiPen price increase

It contains about $1 worth of epinephrine, but it costs $600 or more for a package of two in the United States, almost a 1,000% increase of the $57 the EpiPen went for in 2007; Mylan Pharmaceuticals initially bought it from Merck in 1977, making the device a life-saver for Mylan as well as for the hundreds of thousands of consumers who rely on it.

Prices for the tools used in the event of an allergic reaction have now hit an all time high.

An EpiPen injects a pre-measured dose of epinephrine (adrenaline) that people use if they are having a risky allergic reaction. Shkreli, who was formerly the CEO of Turing Pharmaceuticals, was himself under fire almost a year ago when his company raised the price of a drug for treating a deadly parasitic infection by more than 5,000 percent.

Roughly 40 million Americans have severe allergies to spider bites, bee stings and foods like nuts, eggs and shellfish.

In order to save money, Belew recommends exploring the generic option rather than the name brand, which he says goes through the same set of regulations and saves customers around 30 percent. Symptoms quickly escalate from wheezing, hives and skin swelling to rapid heartbeat, trouble breathing and convulsions and, without treatment, possibly death.

A study by ABC News stated that in 2009, it would cost a family $100 for an EpiPen.

In 2015, Mylan’s profits from the sale of EpiPen rose to $1.2 billion, according to NBC. But that can be hard in a panic or with a child who won’t hold still. So he always carries a special, pre-loaded syringe called an EpiPen.

Mylan has come under enough scrutiny for the price hike that it felt compelled to issue a press release on the matter Monday.

Back in 2007, a pair of the pens would cost around $60.

A two-dose package sold for an average $608 in May, according to the Elsevier database, and has possibly risen since then. Now, sure enough, the Dublin-based pharma is facing the prospect of investigations following years of price increases on its big-selling EpiPen. The price hit $609 per pair in mid-May.

Luckily, she only has a copay of $15 through her husband’s health insurance plan. But patients with high-deductible plans or no insurance can pay list price or more, depending on the pharmacy. “This current and ongoing shift has presented new challenges for consumers, and now they are bearing more of the cost” of the devices, the statement said. It recommended people review their coverage. The company also pointed out that since it started its EpiPen4Schools program in 2012, 700,000 EpiPens have been given out at more than 65,000 schools.

Q: Isn’t there any competition?

Forbes report that as the only supplier, it’s partly one of the reasons why the company can dictate the price and gain monopoly of the market.

Congress is questioning the company that makes a life-saving drug over its skyrocketing price.

In March, the FDA rejected a generic competitor from Teva, due to “certain major deficiencies”, a setback Teva said would cause “significant” delays. He tweeted that the price of a device that costs only a few dollars shouldn’t cost families more than $600. The company also cited health insurance deductibles as one of the factors to the EpiPen’s increasing cost. “It’s not uncommon for somebody who requires EpiPen, for a child, to have them in many different places”, mother Katie Badura said.