Door open for EpiPen competition

A whopping 547 percent increase! Ka-ching!

The price for a two-pack of life-saving EpiPens has risen from about $94 to about $608 over eight years.

Good for Mylan N.V. investors. Not so much for consumers.

Of course, Mylan, which owns the rights to market EpiPens, says it’s not price gouging with a product that’s been around since 1986. But certainly recouping research and development costs should no longer be an issue.

In response to national outrage — including calls for congressional hearings and a Federal Trade Commission investigation — Mylan is offering discounts and a consumer assistance program.

The company also is offering a generic version for $300. But it’s not backing off the price for its name-brand version.

EpiPens inject epinephrine to counter severe allergic reactions that can lead to anaphylactic shock and death. The syringes expire after a year, so recurring cost can become part of the family budget unless insurance plans cover some or all of it.

Mylan has said that many people get EpiPens with no out-of-pocket cost.

In trying to deflect criticism, Mylan CEO Heather Bresch said the company receives only $274 of the $608 cost of a two-pack. She blamed the rest of the cost on insurers, pharmacies, prescription benefit managers and distributors. Of course, those bites are passed along to consumers through insurance costs.

Meanwhile, it should be noted that Bresch got a healthy pay raise last year to a base salary of $1.3 million and a total compensation package of $18.9 million, according to the Wall Street Journal. And never mind that Mylan incorporated last year in the Netherlands and moved its tax home to the United Kingdom to take advantage of lower taxes — although it’s hard to blame them since the U.S., in a terrific case of short-sighted policy, has the highest statutory corporate tax rate among developed countries.

A big part of this problem — and similar situations involving the pharmaceutical industry — is that Mylan has a virtual monopoly on the product. At this time, there’s only one other choice, Adrenaclick. It costs $461.

Food and Drug Administration approval is slow and tedious — and should not be rushed. But as this appears to be a case involving delivery of the medicine and not the substance itself, the FDA should move on encouraging competition.

— Albuquerque Journal