Lawmakers demand info on EpiPen price surge
A two-dose package cost around $94 nine years ago; the cost was more than six times that in May.
WASHINGTON — Members of Congress are demanding information on why the price for lifesaving EpiPens has skyrocketed.
EpiPens are injection devices used to ward off potentially fatal allergic reactions, and the price has surged in recent years. A twodose package cost around $94 nine years ago. The average cost was more than six times that in May, according to the Elsevier Clinical Solutions’ Gold Standard Drug Database.
Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, wrote Mylan, the company that manufactures the devices, and seeking an explanation. He cited the cost to parents whose children need EpiPens and also to schools that keep the devices on hand. He noted the costs can also be passed on to taxpayers when children are covered by Medicaid or other government programs.
Two other senators, Democrats Mark Warner of Virginia and Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, also wrote the company about the high prices. Warner said in a letter Tuesday that the issue is personal for him.
“As the parent of a child with severe allergies, I am all too familiar with the life-ordeath importance of these devices,” Warner wrote.
Rep. Grace Meng, D-N.Y., asked the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee to hold a hearing on the issue. She is a co-chair of the Congressional Kids Safety Caucus.
“Thousands of Americans rely on EpiPens in a given year, and perhaps no time is more important in the purchasing of these devices than the beginning of a new school year,” Meng wrote in a letter to committee chairman Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, and top Democrat Elijah Cummings of Maryland.
A two-dose package sold for an average $608 in May, according to the Elsevier database, and has possibly risen since then.
In a statement issued Monday, Mylan said it has savings programs for patients and is also offering free EpiPens to schools. The company said around half of U.S. schools are participate in that program.
Recent changes in health insurance have resulted in higher deductible costs for many families, Mylan said.
“This current and ongoing shift has presented new challenges for consumers, and now they are bearing more of the cost” of the devices, the statement said.
Rising drug prices are a hot topic in the presidential race, and Congressional committees have been investigating eye-popping increases by other companies. New drugs for cancer and rare diseases can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars and older drugs, even some generics, have seen unprecedented price spikes.