Mylan Raised EpiPen’s Price Before the Expected Arrival of a Generic

A reasonably easy work-around — if you're not too squeamish about needles — is just to get a couple 1- or 2-ml vials/ampules of epinephrine (1:1000) plus a couple of 3cc syringes with 22- or 25-gauge needles. The cost should be on the order of a few dollars. (A 50-ml multi-use vial of epinephrine costs less than $25, just by sake of comparison.)
Some jurisdictions might require a prescription for such. Your GP or allergist should be willing to accommodate.

Mylan needs to be punished by affected consumers.

Easy to say, but that's not a replacement for the convenience of EpiPen's immediate availability upon need and its ease of use by non-medical people.

Actually, the recent kerfuffle with respect to fentanyl has led Canadian health authorities to provide injectable Narcan or generic naloxone HCl kits to drug addicts and 'family' members PLUS training in how to use same in overdose situations.

The EpiPen brouhaha has led Canadian sources to point out that nationally the cost has remained fairly steady at $100-$120 per unit due to our regulatory requirements with respect to affordability of essential medication. The local cost is $100 per unit.

The problem with epinephrine is that it must be immediately available not just to family members, but to kids, themselves, and teachers, and dealing with components as opposed to just pulling an EpiPen out of a lunchbox will be fatal to any number of the former, and syringes, needles, and drugs placed in schools for use by the latter are guaranteed to get stolen and possibly probably even result in some curiosity-related ODs.

Either Justice needs to find a new interpretation of some clause in Sherman or Clayton or a bevy of drug company execs and the legislators who pander to them need to be summarily executed.

Well, the backlash comes in many flavors. Here's one:

How Parents Harnessed the Power of Social Media to Challenge EpiPen Prices

Apparently, Mylan's stock value plummeted ca $3 billion over the past few days.

NICE!

I hope the Senator's daughter lost a big chunk of that $3 billion, and I also hope that the apple fell a looong way from the tree.

Nice indeed! I am so tired of hearing/reading reports about avaricious pharmaceuticals ripping off the sick. The predation is made even worse when so many of the victims are the poor, "priced out" of the medicine they require, when they already struggle to buy food.

And, I am even more tired of the pharmaceuticals whining about the need to recoup R&D when their "R&D" often turns out to be, in large part, research conducted in university laboratories.

Hang 'em high.

Your concerns are to the point. My work-around would only be useful in limited circumstances.

Another downside — at least in some parts of the USA (and probably Canada) — is, as I've been given to understand, that there might be significant liability associated with the dispensing of epinephrine and paraphernalia.

This piece from Slate describes the reality of pharmaceutical R&D costs.

Mylan Tries Again to Quell Pricing Outrage by Offering Generic EpiPen

Huh?

Their real mistake was not realizing that far worse than angering patient advocates, they were angering mothers!

New York attorney general investigates EpiPen manufacturer

Your Attorney General, Eric Schneiderman, was absolutely right when he said: “Allergy sufferers have enough concerns to worry about. The availability of life-saving medical treatment should not be one of them.”

Evidently, greed has no limits. EpiPen Maker Quietly Steers Effort That Could Protect Its Price

At the very least, the classification, if granted, should be tied to a substantial price roll-back.

Oink, oink, Mylan…oink, oink.

And the Dark Side persists ...

EpiPen Maker Lobbies to Shift High Costs to Others

Jon linked to the same article a few posts back, but with a different title.

Thanks for pointing that out. Both links come up now with the latest title.

Note also (you folks in the USA) the accompanying article: What Happens if EpiPens Get the ‘Preventive’ Label?

The EpiPen Outrage Continues

The Mylan's avarice is roughly equal to their arrogance. They take the position that, no matter how much they jack up the price unnecessarily, everyone should just shut up and pay. "Heather Bresch, its chief executive, on Wednesday defended the pricing tactic and suggested that health insurers should just pick up the cost."

An EpiPen Rival — Auvi-Q — Is About to Return to the Shelves

Darn good. Let's hope they boot Mylan sales to the curb.

Not while they have a patent on a life-saving product. And they know it.

Or until congress allows Medicare to negotiate with pharmaceutical companies on price like private insurance companies and even the Veterans Administration can and do. Until that happens big Pharma can do pretty much what they please because Medicare is such a huge provider the non-negotiated prices establish the price everything else is negotiated from.

In Canada that's pretty much how the provinces deal with it. There is a movement afoot which is seeking to expand such on a national basis, which would be even better ... certainly for the consumer, not to mention the taxpayer who foots the bills under our system.

As I noted earlier, because of the above, EpiPens are way cheaper here; as of November 1, the costs for EpiPen and a generic Allerject (in SK) are (+ dispensing fee):
EPIPEN JR 0.15MG/DOSE INJECTION SOLUTION $88.56
EPIPEN 0.3MG/DOSE INJECTION SOLUTION $88.56
ALLERJECT 0.15MG/DOSE INJECTION SOLUTION $82.70
ALLERJECT 0.3MG/DOSE INJECTION SOLUTION $82.70

No matter how you parcel out the costs, in the end they are born by the consumer whether it is in the form of taxes for single payer systems, employer paid insurance which in the end holds down pay but is a taxable benefit to the employee and a tax deduction to the employer, out of pocket insurance payments, or taxpayer support of the local public hospital district. In many states conservative state politicians like that last option because it lets them brag about reducing taxes at the state level and puts all the burden on the county or local hospital district to come up with the $.