Skip to content
logo
  • Home
  • About Us
    • Corporate Overview
    • Company CEO
    • Leadership Team
    • Corporate Responsibility
    • Joint Commission Policy Statement
    • Privacy & Legal
  • Services
    • Nurse Staffing Solutions
    • Clerical Staffing Solutions
    • Basic Life Support Course
    • Respirator Fit Testing
    • COVID-19 Testing – Los Angeles County
    • COVID-19 Testing – San Bernardino County
    • COVID-19 Testing – Riverside County
  • CSP Resources
    • Employee Self Service
    • News, Trends, and Challenges
    • Education & Performance
    • HIPPA & EMTALA
    • Patient Safety Goals
  • Careers
  • Join Our Team
    • Job Applications & Overview
  • Contacts Us
logo
  • Home
  • About Us
    • Corporate Overview
    • Company CEO
    • Leadership Team
    • Corporate Responsibility
    • Joint Commission Policy Statement
    • Privacy & Legal
  • Services
    • Nurse Staffing Solutions
    • Clerical Staffing Solutions
    • Basic Life Support Course
    • Respirator Fit Testing
    • COVID-19 Testing – Los Angeles County
    • COVID-19 Testing – San Bernardino County
    • COVID-19 Testing – Riverside County
  • CSP Resources
    • Employee Self Service
    • News, Trends, and Challenges
    • Education & Performance
    • HIPPA & EMTALA
    • Patient Safety Goals
  • Careers
  • Join Our Team
    • Job Applications & Overview
  • Contacts Us
  • Home
  • About Us
    • Corporate Overview
    • Company CEO
    • Leadership Team
    • Corporate Responsibility
    • Joint Commission Policy Statement
    • Privacy & Legal
  • Services
    • Nurse Staffing Solutions
    • Clerical Staffing Solutions
    • Basic Life Support Course
    • Respirator Fit Testing
    • COVID-19 Testing – Los Angeles County
    • COVID-19 Testing – San Bernardino County
    • COVID-19 Testing – Riverside County
  • CSP Resources
    • Employee Self Service
    • News, Trends, and Challenges
    • Education & Performance
    • HIPPA & EMTALA
    • Patient Safety Goals
  • Careers
  • Join Our Team
    • Job Applications & Overview
  • Contacts Us
EpiPen
Healthcare News
Care Staffing Professionals
0
August 24, 2016

Latest Target In The Drug Price Wars? The Ubiquitous EpiPen

ALISON KODJAK

EpiPens are in your friend’s purse and your kid’s backpack. The school nurse has a few, as does Grandma.

The medicine inside — epinephrine — has been around forever, and the handy gadget that injects it into your leg is not particularly new either.

So members of Congress, responding to their angry constituents, want to know why the price of the EpiPen, which can reverse a life-threatening allergic reaction, has risen about fivefold in the past decade.

The wholesale price of a single pen was about $47 in 2007, and it rose to $284 this summer, according to Richard Evans, a health care analyst at SSR. But consumers can no longer buy a single pen, so the retail price to fill a prescription today at Walgreens is about $633, according to GoodRX.

It’s the latest in a string of controversies over rising drug prices that have caught the attention of lawmakers on Capitol Hill. At least three senators have called for investigations into the price of the EpiPen, and Sens. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, and Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., have sent letters to Mylan, the drug’s manufacturer, demanding an explanation for the increase.

Blumenthal went a step further. “I demand that Mylan take immediate action to lower the price of EpiPens for all Americans that rely on this product for their health and safety,” he wrote in a letter to the company.

Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., has asked the Federal Trade Commission to investigate whether Mylan has violated antitrust laws in its marketing of the EpiPen.

And Hillary Clinton weighed in, calling the price increases “outrageous.”

“It’s wrong when drug companies put profits ahead of patients, raising prices without justifying the value behind them,” the Democratic presidential nominee said in a statement on her Facebook page.

Mylan spokeswoman Nina Devlin said in an email, “We have reached out to every member of Congress who has sent us a letter, and we look forward to meeting with them and responding to their questions as soon as possible.”

She did not immediately comment on Clinton’s statement.

The EpiPen is a long, plastic tube that automatically injects a dose of epinephrine — or adrenaline — into a person’s thigh to stop an allergic reaction. It’s easy to use and portable.

Mylan bought rights to the EpiPen in 2008 and launched an aggressive marketing and awareness campaign. That effort has made the so-called auto-injector a must-have for anyone with an allergy — perhaps to bee stings or tree nuts — that may trigger anaphylaxis, a life-threatening reaction in which the airwaves swell and close.

According to an account by Bloomberg Businessweek, the company considered selling off rights to the drug, which is an old product, but instead launched a campaign to boost sales. Revenue rose from $200 million to more than $1 billion a year.

The company itself touts its campaign “for increased anaphylaxis awareness” as what has helped drive prescriptions and sales of the device.

“Ensuring access to epinephrine — the only first-line treatment for anaphylaxis — is a core part of our mission,” Mylan said in a press release this week.

And certainly people with life-threatening allergies are better off with easy access to the drug.

But Mylan is better off too.

That’s because each EpiPen prescription creates a win-win sales cycle for Mylan.

An EpiPen prescription actually includes two injectors. The FDA in 2010 recommended that patients have access to two, in case the first doesn’t work, and Mylan complied by taking its single EpiPens off the market and offering them in two-packs.

But often one prescription is not enough. People want the pens at home, in their offices or schools, perhaps in the car. So they might buy three or more two-pen packs. Schools and businesses also often keep them on hand in case a student or customer has an unexpected reaction.

That’s a lot of EpiPens.

Plus, epinephrine has a short shelf life, so people have to replace their EpiPens each year, even if they’ve never used them.

That’s how the drug has become a cash cow for Mylan, which last year moved its headquarters from the U.S. to the Netherlands.

But consumers are fed up. Almost 90,000 people signed a petition to Congress asking for an investigation. About 40,000 of those signatures came in on Wednesday.

Mylan says it is working to keep the medication cheap for consumers, by offering $100 coupons to offset high insurance copayments. In a statement released Monday, the company said about 80 percent of patients with insurance get the EpiPen free.

The statement didn’t mention the retail price or the price increases at all. Instead, the company focused on insurance policies with high deductibles that shift costs to patients.

“We encourage all patients and families to thoroughly review and understand their healthcare insurance coverage,” the statement said.

EpiPen’s name recognition means doctors who want to prescribe adrenaline to an allergy-prone patient usually just turn to it. There is no specific EpiPen generic, so pharmacists can’t substitute a cheaper alternative.

But that alternative does exist. Another auto-injector known as Adrenaclick is available in generic form at Wal-Mart for $141, according to GoodRX.

It’s unclear how far the threats of a congressional investigation into the EpiPen will go.

But the prospect does present one awkward situation. The CEO of Mylan, Heather Bresch, is the daughter of Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va. In the time that the price of the EpiPen has been skyrocketing, so has Bresch’s compensation. Last year, she earned about $18.2 million, according to the New York Times. That’s up from about $2.5 million in 2007.

In earlier investigations into drug prices, the chiefs of many companies have been grilled and lectured harshly by lawmakers. It’s unclear whether the angry senators will be as inclined to be as aggressive with the daughter of one of their colleagues.

For more information about this article go to, http://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2016/08/24/491232665/latest-target-in-the-drug-price-wars-the-ubiquitous-epipen

allergies care staffing professionals drugs EpiPen news patient safety pricing
Share

Post navigation

Prev
Next

Related Posts

penn nursing confronting opioid crisis
Healthcare News

Confronting the Opioid Crisis

Nursing colleges add curricula to deal with a growing public health problem. By Grace Bird Nurses are...
Care Staffing Professionals
0
EpiPen
Healthcare News

Latest Target In The Drug Price Wars? The Ubiquitous EpiPen

ALISON KODJAK EpiPens are in your friend’s purse and your kid’s backpack. The school...
Care Staffing Professionals
0

Leave a Comment Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Stay “in the know!” One of Care Staffing Professionals responsibilities includes staying up to date on the latest news and information circulating throughout the healthcare industry and the challenges our clients are facing. Our team of professionals is dedicated to keeping you informed as well. We are committed to sharing the most up-to-date information and providing insight into the various studies, trends, and research effecting patient care.

FacebookTwitterGoogle

Categories

  • Discussion (3)
  • Healthcare News (6)
  • Peer-Reviewed (3)
  • Staffing Solutions (3)

Tags

accreditation avanti best healthcare companies care staffing professionals cinta hospice clinical leadership dignity health discussion drugs EpiPen healthcare companies healthcare staffing solutions hospitals infection control interviews JCAHO joint commission jude levasseur kaiser permanente kindred hospital kpc health leadership mentorship mortality news nurse staffing solutions nursing patient safety peer-review perspectives prep4success pricing prime healthcare risk RN sexual assault staffing staffing solutions study survivor teaching trends workforce solutions zika zika virus
June 2022
M T W T F S S
 12345
6789101112
13141516171819
20212223242526
27282930  
« Nov    

Instagram

This error message is only visible to WordPress admins

Error: No feed found.

Please go to the Instagram Feed settings page to create a feed.

corporate address

P.O. Box 3099, Ontario, CA 91761, United States of America

info@carestaffingprofessionals.com

tel: 909 906 2341
fax: 909 458 0400


We are a healthcare and clerical staffing solutions company. Experts in healthcare, clerical & human resource support.

     

HEADQUARTERS OFFICE

2151 E. Convention Center Way #204
Ontario, California 91764
United States of America

info@carestaffingprofessionals.com

tel: 909 906 2060
fax: 909 458 0400

INFORMATION

Corporate Overview

Company CEO

Leadership Team

Social Responsibility

Privacy & Legal

Quick Links

Blog

Contact Us

Staffing Request

Join Our Team

Careers

Instagram

This error message is only visible to WordPress admins

Error: No feed found.

Please go to the Instagram Feed settings page to create a feed.

ABOUT      CAREERS      CONTACT      PRIVACY & LEGAL

Copyright © 2021 Care Staffing Professionals, Inc.

Remembering 9.11

Today we honor the nearly 3,000 people who lost their lives 17 years ago. The series of attacks against Americans on September 11th were recorded in history as the deadliest attacks in U.S. history.

This week you will likely overhear or engage in conversations about where you were when the planes struck targets in New York City and Washington, D.C.. I often hear people talk about the death and destruction that triggered an enormous effort to combat terrorism. I also remember watching Live coverage from California and the brave men and women rushing toward the danger as it unfolded. Some 400 police officers and firefighters were killed and today thousands of first-responders continue to suffer from the affects of the toxic substances created by the collapsed buildings in Ground Zero.

One of my most profound memories of September 11, 2001 was witnessing the countless number of Americans who responded to assist with the recovery efforts. The spirit of compassion and service could be felt in every part of our country and thanks to organizers at the Corporation for National & Community Service, September 11th has been transformed from a day of mourning to a day of giving back, community engagement, and service.

Please join me in honoring the victims and first-responders of September 11th by participating in this year’s National Day of Service and Remembrance. We enjoy the fruits of their ultimate sacrifice and owe their families a heartfelt thanks and our condolences everyday.

Find a Volunteer Opportunity Near You

Sincerely,


D’Andre Lampkin
Chief Executive Officer
Care Staffing Professionals

Let's Pause for Friends and Loved Ones

In light of recent high-profile suicide incidents, the discussion around mental health and the well-being of friends and family will inevitable become a topic of concern in your social and traditional media outlets. The Care Staffing Professionals team would like to encourage our visitors, clients, and professionals to be mindful of your friends and family’s well-being.

Health officials recommend that everyone familiarize themselves with the warning signs of suicide, which may include:

  • A person thinking about or threatening suicide or seeking a way to kill themself
  • Increased substance abuse
  • Feelings of purposelessness, anxiety, being trapped, or hopeless
  • Social isolation and withdrawing from people and activities
  • Expressing unusual anger, recklessness, or mood changes

 

Don’t assume a persons current or prior successes or ability to overcome past obstacles means they will make it through today’s challenges. Be an active listener, express your willingness to provide and seek help, and follow up. We can all prevent suicide.

If you or someone you know is considering suicide, contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 800-273-TALK (8255). This is a number you can call 24-7, 365 days a year. You can also access a “Lifeline Chat” through the group’s website, suicidepreventionlifeline.org.

 

Take care of yourself and each other,


D’Andre Lampkin
Chief Executive Officer
Care Staffing Professionals

Leaving Care Staffing Professionals Website

You are leaving the Care Staffing Professionals corporation web site for a site that is controlled by a third party, not affiliated with Care Staffing Professionals. The content and policies, including the privacy policy, on the site you are entering may vary from Care Staffing Professionals viewpoints and policies. Please be sure to review the policies of every site you visit. Care Staffing Professionals is not responsible for the opinions, policies, statements or practices of any other companies, such as those that may be expressed in the web site you are entering.

Continue
Cancel
Leaving Care Staffing Professionals Website

You are leaving the Care Staffing Professionals corporation web site for a site that is controlled by a third party, not affiliated with Care Staffing Professionals. The content and policies, including the privacy policy, on the site you are entering may vary from Care Staffing Professionals viewpoints and policies. Please be sure to review the policies of every site you visit. Care Staffing Professionals is not responsible for the opinions, policies, statements or practices of any other companies, such as those that may be expressed in the web site you are entering.

Continue
Cancel