Mylan, the maker of the EpiPen, announced Monday that it will offer a generic version of the product in an effort to calm the outrage over the cost of the lifesaving drug. The generic drug will cost $300 per two-pack, about half the cost of the $608 brand name EpiPen.
Last week, a firestorm erupted over Mylan's increasing consumer price for the EpiPen, an epinephrine auto-injector. With the help of social media, attention was brought to the steadily increasing price of the drug over the past several years while the cost to produce the EpiPen did not. In 2007, the cost of a pair of EpiPens was $93.88, according to the Associated Press.
There are a few reasons why drug prices are increasing at such rates, including a lack of competition, said Ed Miller, a professor at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point.
Miller said manufacturing problems of EpiPen’s competitor and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's limitation left no competition.
Teva Pharmaceutical plans to launch its own generic EpiPen in 2017, pending FDA approval, according to CNN.
Mylan also could be setting a higher price to negotiate with pharmacy benefit managers, Miller said. Out of the $608 list price for EpiPen, Mylan gets only $274, the company has claimed.
But, according to Miller, another reason could be based in politics.
"Some of this may be occurring because of what I refer to as a 'preemptory price increase,'" Miller said. "There is a fear (by) these drug companies that they’re going to have their prices limited in some way."
Companies may fear a negotiation of Medicare pricing, and even Hillary Clinton’s plan for lowering prescription drugs, which includes stopping direct-to-consumer advertising, requiring companies to invest in research and capping out of pocket costs for consumers, Miller said.
"So what they want to do is get their price up, so that they can lock in that price," Miller said.