Mylan announces new cost-saving options for EpiPen users
Cost-saving actions have been announced after pharmaceutical company Mylan came under fire for hiking the cost of their EpiPen Auto Injector to 600 dollars.
The lifesaving shot sold for about 100 dollars per pack in 2009. It’s used to quickly treat severe allergy reactions.
Mylan says they are now offering a savings card for up to 300 dollars for patients who have to pay the full price for the drug out of pocket and expand eligibility for their patient assistance program.
In a statement, company CEO Heather Bresch says in part “We recognize the significant burden on patients from continued, rising insurance premiums and being forced increasingly to pay the full list price for medicines at the pharmacy counter. Patients deserve increased price transparency and affordable care, particularly as the system shifts significant costs to them. However, price is only one part of the problem.”
Buddy Richardson, a registered pharmacist at Milford Street Pharmacy in Salisbury, calls the risen prices ‘unjustified’.
“To put it in perspective, an actual ampule and a syringe that you would do like you did in the old days…costs about three dollars, still,” says Richardson. “I can’t imagine that this is worth 600 dollars.”
Richardson isn’t the only one with concerns.
CNN reports the controversy started with a social media movement by concerned parents who launched an online petition urging Congress to “stop the EpiPen price gouging.”
The petition was reportedly sent to more than 100,000 lawmakers.
Senator Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota says she has been trying to get bills passed which would bring more competition into not only to the epipen market, but additional pharmaceutical markets.
“We’ve see these prices creep up and up every single year for so many drugs and this is just the latest glaring example,” says Senator Klobuchar.
Richardson tells 47ABC, the problem with the savings cards offered by Mylan Thursday is that it still leaves a big price to pay.
“This is like a life-saving medication and to make it accessible to everyone, to have it in the schools, to have it in the patient’s hand, in the parent’s hands, it needs to be a reasonable price,” he explains.
Mylan says it also plans to continue their ‘EpiPens4Schools’ program. Since its launch in 2012, the program has provided more than 700,000 epipens to schools nationwide.
In the interest of price transparency, the company says they are also providing the entire economic story of the EpiPen supply chain on their website.
