A lifetime - saving but increasingly expensive discussion for life-threatening sensitised attacks is poised to become cheaper .
On Thursday , the Food and Drug Administrationannouncedits approving of a generic version of the EpiPen and EpiPen Jr sold by pharmaceutical company Mylan . The approval comes in the wake of several scandals involving Mylan ’s version , including an ongoing shortage of the drug .
The EpiPen is an automobile - injectable machine that shoots the hormone epinephrin into your system , rapidly stanch the symptom of a spirit - jeopardise allergic chemical reaction . The hormone itself , perhaps well known as adrenaline , has long been generic and loud to obtain . But the technology inside the EpiPen , developed in 1977 , that allows it to be easy used by anyone with right training is another story .
Though there are other epinephrine autoinjectors available , Mylan has ferociously defended its chokehold on the grocery , allow it to keep raise prices . In 2007 , when Mylan first bought its merchandising rights , an EpiPen was $ 57 , but by 2016 , it had surface to around $ 600 . Along the way , Mylan has reportedlybulliedcompaniestrying to develop cheaper version of their product , including Teva Pharmaceuticals — the companionship behind the generic version approve by the FDA today . Teva had earlier failed to win approval for their variant in 2016 and has sought to create a generic version since at least2009 .
“ This favorable reception signify patients exist with severe allergies who need constant memory access to life - saving Adrenalin should have a lower - cost option , as well as another approved product to aid protect against likely drug shortages , ” said FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb in astatement .
In May , the FDA officially placed the EpiPen on its shortages list , following legion manufacturing delays at the lone St. Louis factory where the product is create . ( Mylan market Epipen , but it has a fabrication partnership with the pharmaceutical company Pfizer . ) The company has also had to deal with agrowing numberof reports concern defective EpiPens believed to have injured and even killed drug user , according to internal FDA documents obtained byBloomberg News .
Though the company has oftenbrushed asidethe dandy of criticism over its high monetary value ( sometimes by matt outlyingabout their profits ) , it ’s also tried to worm itself back into the populace ’s effective thanksgiving . In 2016 , Mylan won approval to produce and sell their own generic version of the EpiPen . This adaptation still sold forabout $ 300 , with the only deviation being the deficiency of a mark name label . Last twelvemonth , it alsoentereda $ 465 million resolution with the federal government over title that it had ripped off Medicaid and Medicare ( the company was allowed not to acknowledge any wrongdoing ) . Ironically , it was criminate of doing so by allegedly misrepresenting their product as a generic drug , apparently allowing them to overcharge for it .
If there ’s one vivid side to all this , it ’s that Mylan ’s thaumaturgy have apparently started to fall monotone : Its revenue from the EpiPen has steadily fallen inrecent geezerhood .
It ’s unclear at this point how much Teva ’s generic version will cost , though a generic version of a similar epinephrine autoinjector now costsaround $ 100 . Teva did not immediately respond to a request for input from Gizmodo .
[ FDA ]
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