Surprise!

...Pushing Legislation
Congressional anger may be fueled by the company’s tactics in pushing legislation that helped boost the use of EpiPens.

Mylan spent about $4 million in 2012 and 2013 on lobbying for access to EpiPens generally and for legislation, including the 2013 School Access to Emergency Epinephrine Act, according to lobbying disclosure forms filed with the Office of the Clerk for the House of Representatives. Mylan also was the top corporate sponsor of a group called Food Allergy Research & Education that was the key lobbyist pushing for the bill encouraging schools to stock epinephrine auto-injectors, of which EpiPen is by far the leading product....

http://www.bloomberg.com/politics/a...hter-who-raised-prices-on-anti-allergy-epipen
 
EpiPen cost soars, but it's not the only drug to

Story highlights
  • The soaring cost of EpiPens has left many consumers with sticker shock
  • Americans are spending about 20% more on prescription drugs than in 2013, experts say
(CNN)On a hot and sticky summer day in Manhattan, Nicole Levin was leaving a dentist appointment when it happened.

The 41-year-old New Yorker exited a subway train, walked up a flight of concrete stairs to the bustling city street, and suddenly felt her tongue and throat swell. She started to sweat. She felt nauseous, short of breath and couldn't swallow.

If Levin let any more time pass, she knew she wouldn't be able to breathe.
She frantically opened her purse, wrapped her fingers around an EpiPen, and jammed it into her thigh beneath her workout pants. Immediately, she felt her throat open. She took in a deep breath of air -- a sigh of relief.

"That was really scary, because usually I can do it at home or something and this time I didn't know what hit me. I just pulled it out and had to do it right in the subway," said Levin, who has a combination of environmental, food and medication allergies, often leading to cross-reactivity.


Could you be allergic to these everyday things?

Just moments earlier, Levin received a tooth implant at her dentist appointment. She told the clinicians that she was allergic to amoxicillin, an antibiotic that can treat infections, she said. However, they prescribed a medication that was still in the same penicillin family, which she said caused the reaction.

"That's why I need EpiPens, because I don't know what to avoid," Levin said, referring to the portable auto-injector devices used to treat allergic reactions.

"Because of my history, I'm really supposed to have four with me at all times, and when I travel, I'm supposed to have like six or eight," she said. "Usually, one is not enough because the reaction is immediately severe, so there are times where I have to use up to three until I can get help.

And what does that life-saving medication cost her?
"Right now, it's $200 each or even $300." For some, it costs even more.

EpiPen price hike hits hard at school
...

http://www.cnn.com/2016/08/23/health/epipen-price-mylan-prescription-drugs-increase/index.html
 
Mylan has raised the price of EpiPens more than 400 percent in recent years. The medicine inside costs $1. The problem is that no one does the accounting correctly, and why I am not 100% certain what the right stance is: It costs lots of money, some estimate billions, to bring a new drug to market. So is the cost to produce Epinephrine really $1?

I am also confused: Isn't Mylan a generic drug company? How the hell did it end up with a drug that AFAIK, has no competition?


EpiPens cost just several dollars to make. Customers pay more than $600 for them
Dan Mangan | @_DanMangan
2 Hours AgoCNBC.com

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http://www.cnbc.com/2016/08/25/epip...omers-pay-more-than-600-dollars-for-them.html
 
Epinephrine costs a few bucks per vial. A syringe cost roughly 50 cents. Rubbing alcohol and cotton swabs a couple of bucks. Learn to use a needle you dumb Americans or stop producing lesser beings.
 
How to stop price gouging by drugmakers like Mylan

Generic drug manufacturer Mylan’s extreme price hike for the EpiPen soared to the top of the headlines last week. This product, consisting of an auto-injector devised by the U.S. military, combined with a $1 dose of epinephrine used to save the life of people suffering from a serious allergy attack, costs no more than $20 to manufacture. But since buying the rights to distribute the device, Mylan has raised the price of EpiPens from $57 each in 2007 to over $600 for a two-pack today.

Numerous members of Congress have denounced Mylan’s actions and demanded hearings, as has Hillary Clinton. Even Sen. Joe Manchin, a Democrat whose daughter is Mylan’s CEO, said that he shares the concerns of his colleagues about prescription drug price gouging.

But the government already has the power to prevent such behavior. They don’t need to pressure Mylan to “fix” the problem itself; they don’t even need to pass a new law. Multiple federal agencies could solve this simply by exhibiting the political will to use their authority to take on the drug companies.

First of all, let’s point out that the EpiPen case is not an outlier. Mylan has made a habit of enacting triple-digit price increases on generic drugs in cases where it holds dominant market share. The EpiPen increases were a misfire because of the widespread use of the device: Mylan sold 3.6 million of them last year. In a way it’s more insidious for the company to jack up the price of obscure gallstone medication ursodiol by 542 percent, or gastrointestinal drug metoclopramide by 444 percent. Two U.S. senators don’t have kids that use these drugs, so the price gouging passes unnoticed.

Drug companies industry-wide engage in this practice...

http://www.msn.com/en-us/money/mark...y-drugmakers-like-mylan/ar-AAiflEv?li=BBnbfcN
 
I looked up a guy I used to work for:

http://people.equilar.com/bio/stanley-crooke-ionis-pharmaceuticals/salary/689155#.V8aetofSlQU

Stan Crooke makes a total annual compensation of $7,981,024 cash + stock +options.

Now Stan is a pretty talented guy... but 7 million a year?

Stan is a piker compared to the $18.5 million paid to the median pharmaceutical CEO but realize this: Stan's 7 million a year (and all the salaries) represents COST to his company IONIS... so it is a tax deduction for them.
 
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