This hits home for me because my GF is allergic to tree nuts and there have been a couple times she's been close to having an allergic reaction (we were out to eat once and she asked if there were tree nuts, and the waiter said no. He was wrong). This is just another in a line of constant bad practices by our government, and Congress specifically. And this Heather Bresch is an asshole. "Drug company CEO Heather Bresch affectionately describes the humble EpiPen as her “baby,” a once-middling product that she turned into a blockbuster. With aggressive advertising — and even more aggressive price hikes — Bresch has fostered the EpiPen into a bestseller that brings in more than $1 billion a year in revenue for Mylan Pharmaceuticals. But the growing furor over drug pricing threatens to turn Mylan’s biggest asset into a liability. And it has forced Bresch into an unwelcome spotlight, as anxiety over the rising cost of medicine has drug industry critics seeking out the next Martin Shkreli." Controversial CEO in the hot seat over EpiPen price hikes Pharma CEO gave herself an $18 million raise after hiking EpiPen prices U.S. lawmakers demand investigation of $100 price hike of lifesaving EpiPens
The first thing I think about when I was reading your post is I wonder how governments role influences a products price. Maybe taxes or tariffs. Fda funding. Regulations and red tapes that requires time and money to get around. Then I was wondering about research and development. Something that ANY company would spend a high percentage of its expenses on. Maybe they are working on a super epipen and they need funds to develope that drug. Maybe they are improving the design of the product. Making it easier to use and safer. Perhaps they are making it fancier looking...I don't know. Maybe they only have 500 thousand units and the market calls for a million units. Rise the price. You called it "big pharm strikes again" so it seems like a "hit peice" type post So why do you think the price of medications have rised? I would blame it on inflation. And the insurance industry, even before obamacare causes the price of healthcare to be more expensive. It makes sense, throw in obamacare and prescription prices shoot up. What does it matter? Y'all pay a co-pay anyways
It's not normal for something to spike that much that quickly. Obvious hands at play here, and it is a medical issue. I'd say it's more greed than inflation. "EpiPen was one of about 400 products that Mylan acquired in the deal. And it was unremarkable in business terms: a plastic device that, with the push of a button, injected what Bloomberg has estimated to be about a dollar’s worth of the generic hormone epinephrine to treat deadly anaphylactic shock. It sold for about $57 and made just $200 million a year for Merck KGaA, accounting for less than 5 percent of the company’s generics revenue at the time. ... Bresch saw potential in the decades-old auto-injector, and Mylan credits her with spearheading an effort to widen its use" There's a line of nepotism and such, if you read the link above. An item that costs dollars to make is suddenly costing hundreds of dollars per person? "In a statement, Mylan defended its patient-access programs, which it said provide EpiPens for free to 80 percent of insured patients. But the company did not address price increases or their effect on patients without insurance." Now, they;ve lost more than 30 percent of company stock. And on Tuesday, analysts from Citigroup warned that the current public focus on EpiPen pricing could weigh down Mylan’s stock, especially if the company has to appear before a Senate committee. Here's the kicker: "But Bresch herself is well-insured: According to a recent analysis from Bloomberg, if she’s deposed in a merger, she’s in line for a $61.5 million golden parachute."
Sickening. They reward their CEO with a multi-million dollar raise and snicker to themselves as kids with allergies die because parents can't afford the drug. It's EPINEPHRINE for goodness sake. The stuff has been around for a hundred years...kind of like the tetracycline they just went up on around 1000% at the end of last year. They do it because the CAN and because it puts dollars in their pocket...which they then pass on as gifts to legislators who are bought off so this can happen again and again and again. Until lobbying is made illegal and lobbying is made punishable by death or something close, every government official in every nation on this plant is CORRUPT!! Until we "little people" get mad enough to come together and raise mortal HELL...it will continue. They all assume we're too ignorant to know or understand their game. I think it's pretty safe to say that Europe and America are on the road to taking their political power back. Let's HOPE we have enough sane people left in America to not give the Clintons another opportunity to use this country as a way to continue to bankroll their future by selling political clout...but we'll see. If she goes into office, you might as well bend over and kiss your ass and along with it kiss America goodbye because Hillary will have it sold within the first 100 days of her swearing in...if it's not already. TWW
It's simple economics. Supply and demand. Take away the greed and the benefits of having a successful product, then there is no incentive to make those kinds of products. It's called business. Making money. Y'all blurring the line of government providing basic services and businesses that drive the economy, that sell services to make money To be able to afford high priced items is a benefit of producing whichever income you make. You keep attacking capitalism, eventually all these companies are going to wither away. Why would anyone want to have a succesfull business's if all they are going to get is 50% taxes, public shamming, and to have to give up all of their profits to the government because it's not fair that they are succesfull
I can't find the article anymore but the company defends the price hike not on the medicine but the auto delivery system built into the pen , the company said something like if you can do it manually (using a syringe and epinephrine ) you will get the same results you are merely paying for the convenience of a ready to go medical device...I know sickening isn't it..so because the labor to produce the auto injector is on the rise so shall the patients price rise. captialism...a love a story haha
"Although the product is unchanged since 2009, the cost has skyrocketed by more than 400 per cent during that period," the association said in a release. Pfizer Canada distributes EpiPens through a licence from Mylan, which owns the brand. A spokesperson for Pfizer Canada said the price has not changed and there are no plans to do so. In Canada, the price has been consistent because prices are regulated by the Patent Medicine Prices Review Board. Drug price hikes can damage company reputations: White House on EpiPen furor
It costs so much bc the FDA regulates out their competition.. Not a failure of the market...a failure of government intervening in the market
Yeah there is a generic pen but the FDA denied it because of "minor complications" The CEO of the company is a daughter of a Senator. He's worked with the FDA before on legislation.
You can keep your doctor, they said. Prices will go down, they said. Obamacare will be great, they said.
True, but due to Obamacare, we cannot afford prescription coverage and the epi pen that used to cost me $75, now costs five times more.
Did you actually read any articles about this situation? The price was not raised significantly because of onamacare it had virtually nothing to do with onamacare. The reason they've jacked up the prices is because they don't have any real competitors, partially due to regulatory capture. In the time that the new CEO took over they saw that they had a major stranglehold over the market and because of that knew they could raise the price significantly without taking a hit in sales. CEOs have a legal responsibility to increase profits for their shareholders otherwise the board will replace them. In this case it was obvious they could afford to raise the price which meant that if the CEO did not significantly raise the prices they would not be increasing their profits and would most likely be replaced by someone who would increase the price of a drug. It's the worst of both the free market and the government. You have the free market principles of fiduciary responsibility leading to the CEO's being forced to constantly raise the prices combined with the governmental practice of regulatory capture that forced other competitors out of the market. This has basically nothing to do with Obamacare and is much more nuanced than obamacare is increasing the drug prices.
Everyone's favorite pharmabro weighing in. 'Pharma Bro' Martin Shkreli just responded to EpiPen price hike
Comprehension is your friend. I said, "due to Obamacare, we can no longer afford prescription coverage." The bronze plan is what we can afford, which doesn't cover prescription costs, meaning, we have to pay 100% out of pocket. So the epi pen that used to cost $75, now costs five times more. I never said Obamacare is the reason the price went up.
why would you get a plan that dose not cover what you need? did you pay the $75 out of pocket? or was that with insurance?
Must have read that shit when I was really tired. My bad man, that sucks. Hopefully this shit is turned around, unfortunately I have very little hope considering the pharmaceutical companies love the current system.
You act like we have a choice. Again, what we can afford is the bronze plan which doesn't cover the cost of prescriptions. My old plan had 30% prescription coverage. My total out of pocket was $75 back then. Now that the price has been jacked up plus not having any prescription coverage, the cost is $550. We are kicking around the idea of dropping coverage altogether and just taking the penalty. With a combined premium over $500 and $6000 deductible, doesn't feel much like coverage at all.
im sorry i guess i dont understand your situation, just trying to learn from other peoples experiance....why dont you have a choice? do you need medical stuff besides a epipen? like do you go to the doctor all the time? do you pay $500 a year for health insurance? i hope that isnt for a month. how much is the pentalty? $750? it dosnt really sound like coverage either. sounds like a big scam. insurance gets to jack up their rates and the goverment gets the pentalty money from the other people