A steep increase in the price of the EpiPen, a lifesaving injection device for people with severe allergies, has sparked outrage among consumers and lawmakers who worry that parents won’t be able to afford the pens for children heading back to school.Mylan, a collection of scum-sucking, tax-dodging asshats, is no different in morality than PharmaBro, who at least, may be headed for the prison cell that he so richly deserves. You can't argue that your industry serves a public good when the pricing is done by the methods employed by robber barons.
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Mylan, the pharmaceutical company, acquired the decades-old product in 2007, when pharmacies paid less than $100 for a two-pen set, and has since been steadily raising the wholesale price. In 2009, a pharmacy paid $103.50 for a set. By July 2013 the price was up to $264.50, and it rose 75 percent to $461 by last May. This May the price spiked again to $608.61, according to data provided by Elsevier Clinical Solutions’ Gold Standard Drug Database.
Other than the quibble that their products are legal and heroin is not,* there are few differences between Big Pharma and the drug cartels, other than (i) there is more competition with regard to illegal drugs, (ii) legal drugs usually aren't stepped-on and (iii) Walgreens and CVS rarely engage in gun battles over turf.
The top layers of management of both the cartels and Big Pharma truly rival each other when it comes to amorality.
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* A distinction without much of a difference when it comes to opiods.
Note that the only real competitor to the Epi-Pem was forced out of the business last year because users were occasionally making errors in use. A problem that occurs at the same rate with the Epi-pen, but it didn't get recalled. Might be worth a look at who got the recall ball rolling, eh?
ReplyDeleteWalgreens or CVS have never spotted me fifty bucks so I could keep eating until payday, but my dope dealer (back when I had one) did just that on multiple occasions.
ReplyDeleteMy friend Sara got stung on the toe by a bee she had no idea she was deathly allergic to, and was in full cardiac arrest when the EMTs got there, and apparently "reenacted the scene from Pulp Fiction but without the sharpie" with "a jacked up epi pen with a needle as long as your middle finger" and she's still around to tell the tale, so I hope they manage to keep them available, as I would miss her horribly if she weren't around.
-Doug in Oakland
Here's some competition it looks like:
ReplyDeleteAdrenaclick: $141.67 from Walmart, of all places.
Looks like Walmart isn't *all* evil - even if this act of good wasn't intentional.
http://www.goodrx.com/adrenaclick?kw=price&utm_source=bing&utm_medium=cpc&utm_term=adrenaclick&utm_campaign=adrenaclick&utm_content=Ad-Group_General&utm_source=bing&utm_medium=cpc&utm_term=adrenaclick&utm_campaign=adrenaclick&utm_content=Ad-Group_General&mkwid=pcYguqml&crid=2854949140&mp_kw=adrenaclick&mp_mt=e
The problem is that these medical devices are prescribed by brand, not as a generic fill option. So, unless the doctor writes the script for adrenaclick, the patient can't use this cheaper option. And you can bet that Mylan has been flooding doctors offices with stories of problems with any competitor and lawsuits filed against those companies, while promising that would never happen with Epi-pen (and probably promising to assist, if it does). The pharmaceutical industry is ripe for a RICO investigation and then some, but the fallout in Congress and the AMA would be too much, so it stays hidden.
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