EpiPens, the auto-injectors that reverse severe allergic reactions, have become obscenely expensive in the last decade, with costs rising more than 450 percent since 2004—and you can’t always get the generic version. A set of two EpiPens costs $600, though the devices only cost the UK’s National Health Service (not the consumer) about $69. Even members of the U.S. Congress have demanded an explanation for the rising costs—in part because, since 1997, it has been misclassified as a generic drug.
CVS is now stepping in to give consumers another option, according to Ars Technica. The drug store is debuting a generic epinephrine auto-injector in a partnership with Impax Laboratories. This generic version of Impax’s Adrenaclick will cost only $109.99, and Impax is making coupons available to reduce the price to just $10 for some patients.
Last year, under intense scrutiny over the price of EpiPens, Mylan began selling a generic version, but that still costs $300. Hopefully, competing with the CVS alternative, sold at 9600 pharmacies around the country, will force Mylan to bring down its prices to a more reasonable rate.
[h/t Ars Technica]
January 13, 2017 – 11:15am