After the public and media outcry about the price increase the life saving drug Epinephrine, carried as a self injecting device (Epipen), that many people with sever allergies carry to save their lives, the drug company Mylan tried a couple of new tactics to quell the criticism. First, they laughably offered a $300 off coupon to families on lower incomes and those who have to pay out of pocket. That didn’t work and just raised the volume from the public and the media over the strangling hold of the pharmaceutical’s monopoly. The latest ploy is a generic version of the Epipen for half the cost of the brand name, a mere $300, which by any other name is still extortion.
The production cost of making Epipen is about $3.00, yes, THREE BUCKS. The original cost for development of the delivery device, an auto-injector, was done years ago by the federal government to save the lives of military personal who might be exposed the nerve gas:
The military once used a self-injecting device much like the EpiPen to combat nerve gas and other agents. The EpiPen was created by a former NASA engineer, Shel Kaplan. Kaplan created the ComboPen for the military before creating the EpiPen. In 1980, the EpiPen became available for use by people with food allergies and other allergies that may cause anaphylaxis.
The cost for making the auto-injector – $2.00. The cost of the amount of Epinephrine in the device – $1.00. Mylan sold it for $57 in 2007 when it gained the monopoly on the patent; it now sells it for $600, a 461% increase. Why? Because they can and the government has done nothing to stop this.
Of course Mylan isn’t the only pharmaceutical that has done this.
.Today we are upset about EpiPens. Yesterday, it was “Pharma Bro” Martin Martin Shkreli, who hiked the price of a life-saving HIV/Aids medicine from $13.50 to $750. Before that it was Gilead Pharmaceuticals spiking the price of Hepatitis C medication while shifting operations offshore to reduce taxes, or the cabal of companies raising prices on insulin in suspicious tandem. [..]
It may be because of patent law, in the case of Gilead’s hold on Hep C medication. Or the Food and Drug Administration blocking competitors, in the case of Mylan and EpiPens. We have created a system that allows these companies few or no competitors, but we are periodically shocked and publicly shame them when we do so. It almost seems a little unfair.
This doesn’t have to happen. The federal government does have the power to suspend patents through a law passed in 2003 during the anthrax scare when the Bush administration threatened to suspend the patent for the antibiotic Cipro if the Bayer corporation didn’t lower the price. That authority is under 28 U.S. Code § 1498: U.S. Code Title 28: Part IV, Chapter 91.
Both Democrats and Republicans are at fault, as is the Obama administration for not bringing theses ghouls to heel. Much of the cause of the high price medical costs in the US is due to these pharmaceutical companies holding monopolies on patents and colluding to keep drug prices artificially high. As ek hornbeck pointed out monopolies kill, they’re also extortionists holding millions hostage for blood money. It doesn’t matter how many people may die, they’ll still collect their vigorish from those who need it most. As Charlie Pierce would say, it’s time for this administration to stop these bastids.