Mylan labs to offer generic EpiPen

[napi21]

In another move to quell outrage over its price increases, the maker of the EpiPen said on Monday that it would introduce a generic version of the product, with a price about half of the existing EpiPen’s.

The company, Mylan, said that the generic EpiPen would be available in several weeks and be identical to the existing product, which is used to treat severe allergic reactions. But it would have a wholesale list price of $300 for a pack of two, compared with just above $600 for the existing product.

Under pressure, Mylan announced last week that it would increase the financial assistance it provided to commercially insured patients to help with their out-of-pocket costs. It also said it would broaden the eligibility for uninsured patients to receive free products.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/30/business/mylan-to-offer-a-generic-epipen-at-half-the-price.html?_r=0

Greedy btd's! Obviously they don't understand what $300 means to people who don't have millions!

The article states that the name EpiPen has become so common, even many Dr.s are writing prescriptions for EpiPen instead of the generic epinephrine auto-injector. Sounds like there needs to be a round of education for Drs & the public.

[underpants]

1. So they are marking down the mark up?

If they are offering a generic that means they could have made it that way all the time.

[unblock]

2. i.e., mylan to keep epipen prices high, and grab slice of generic market as well.

it's good to be a monopoly!

look at them pretending to compete against themselves and profiting either way!

[yellowcanine]

3. Too little too late. Epinephrine should be very easy to make as a generic.

I am quite sure others will step in and take some of this market away. There is no reason this should cost $300. I suspect a suitable generic substitute could be made for a tenth of that and a company could still make money. It is a large market and the doses are only good for a year, at which time they have to be replaced.

[Igel]

5. It is a generic.

The issue isn't the drug, it's the autoinjector. There are many, but EpiPen did such a good marketing job that everybody's gone stupid and thinks that somehow 1950s technology is somehow only possessed by one maker.

There are several brands of autoinjector, but only one EpiPen. Thing is, because EpiPen did such a good job convincing everybody it was unique, many pharmacies don't have the competitors. So the generic will work for them only because alternatives aren't available and druggists will order both the brand-name and generic from from this one company.

Until people realize there are competitors, though, nothing will change. And all the argumentation over this one brand really reinforces the idea that there is, really and truly, only this one brand. If there were others, what's the big deal, right?

[global1]

4. That Makes Absolutely No Sense....

epinepherine has been around for eons. It is generic. What is proprietary - in my opinion - is the delivery system - the auto injector mechanism. Mylan offering a generic version just means that they are going to offer the same product - with a different name.

Product 1 would be called Epi-Pen. Product 2 would be called epinephrine auto syringe (or something like that).

Both would be the same product.

If a doctor writes a prescription for Epi-Pen and doesn't indicate that the product could be a generic. The pharmacist would have to fill the prescription with the proprietary (more expensive) product.

If the doctor indicates on the prescription that a generic could be used or if the doctor writes the prescription for epinephrine auto injector or syringe - the pharmacist can use the less expensive non-labeled generic product.

Both the patient and their insurance company would be held responsible for paying either the more expensive price or the cheaper price depending on that prescription and the way the doctor wrote the prescription.

This is like the difference between - Kleenex and tissues or Bayer aspirin or aspirin. You pay up for the name.

Seems like a ploy on Mylan's part to have the insurance company foot the bill for the higher priced epinephrine product.

Are we sure that Donald Trump doesn't run this company? This is a way that the company can have it both ways - just like the Donald that is on both sides of every issue.

[napi21]

6. HA! Maybe Don the Con IS advising them! I want to know why

another lab hasn't copied this delivery system? It's been around quite a while and Mylan isn't the ONLY pharmaceutical house with very capable researchers. Before this flack, I thought it might be a patent issue, but it doesn't sound that way. It seems to me, for whatever reason, none of the competitors are really trying.