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Science & Technology
EMT and Iraq War Vet Has Already Outsmarted The Cost Of EpiPen
2016-08-27
[Daily Caller] One fire department has found an inventive solution to the problem of the soaring costs of EpiPens.

An EpiPen is a lifesaving epinephrine injection device for those suffering from anaphylacic shock‐a deadly allergic reaction. The price of the epinephrine inside an EpiPen amounts to just one dollar.

Heather Bresch, the daughter of Sen. Joe Manchin and CEO of Mylan, the company that makes EpiPen’s, has raised the price of EpiPen’s 461 percent since acquiring the drug in 2007. Ms. Bersch, whose company Mylan acquired the mechanism in 2007, has raised of the price of the device from $56.64 to $317.82 in 2015, according to CBS News.

Cary Turner, a thrifty paramedic trainer and EMT coordinator at the Salt Lake City Fire Department, came up with solution to evade the burdensome cost of the EpiPen. Turner, a veteran of the Iraq war, was determined to find a simple solution to curb the cost of acquiring this lifesaving drug without paying for an EpiPen.

Turner devised a prepackaged "kit inside a zippered pouch, that contains a small vial of epinephrine, and a syringe," reports Salt Lake City’s KUTV. He then lobbied for it’s approval with the Utah Health Department and got his kit approved for EMT agents to carry and administer. The price of Turner’s device is just $3.50 which is in stark contrast to the over $300 EpiPen.

He trained his EMT agents on how to properly dose and administer the epinephrine. Turner told the press, "I went ahead and grabbed an orange, pretending it was a patient’s skin, and we walked through and taught all our EMTs to draw their own medications."

Thus far, there have been no accidents or safety issues with Turner’s device.

While the FDA has upheld the monopoly on the market for epinephrine injection devices, Turner’s solution could bare some light for families and those with severe allergies that are trying to curb costs
Posted by:Besoeker

#5  I think Heather is very soon for "under-bus visuals". She's worn out her benefits and become a negative. Bye Heather, watch the axle pig!
Posted by: Frank G   2016-08-27 18:11  

#4  The key to the EpiPen isn't the epinephrine inside. That's generic and cheap.

The key is that 1) it's the right dose ready to go and 2) it's in a spring-loaded, virtually idiot-proof syringe. The spring loading means that when used, the needle comes out at the right depth and puts the epinephrine into the muscle where it needs to go.

When seconds count you want this to work and to be idiot proof.

Epinephrine is cheap. The device is well understood and the patent (as I understand it) has expired. So if you ran a mid-cap Pharma company you could conceivably come to the market with a competitor device.

Except you won't because the FDA won't approve you in less than a decade. You'll need more studies and documentation than you ever dreamed possible.

Why? Because Heather Bresch is Joe Manchin's daughter, and the FDA knows that.

In fact, several companies have tried -- each has been sued by Mylan (or a predecessor company) for patent infringement. A couple others have found that indeed, the FDA is, um, "slow" in its approval process. And Teva Pharmaceuticals had its generic eli-pen device rejected by the FDA.

The drug is cheap. The device is well-understood and cheap to manufacture. The regulatory process would be simple enough (for a mid-cap Pharma). It's the politics that stops you.
Posted by: Steve White   2016-08-27 14:45  

#3  ...A brilliant and well-thought out idea that will be outlawed momentarily by bureaucratic fiat....

Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski   2016-08-27 11:54  

#2  Appears to be a lot of money in the epipen biz. You'd think other companies would be scrambling for a cut, necessarily driving prices down.
Wonder why they're not.
No, I don't.
Posted by: Richard Aubrey   2016-08-27 09:13  

#1  [Free Beacon} Government Funds to Mylan Spiked After Manchin’s Daughter Became CEO.

Millions in government funds directed to subsidiaries after Heather Bresch became CEO

Government funds awarded to Mylan, Inc. increased dramatically after the daughter of Sen. Joe Manchin (D., W.Va.) took over as its chief executive officer.

The pharmaceutical company Mylan sparked controversy this week for hiking the price of its EpiPen, an autoinjector used to counter allergic reactions. The life-saving device was sold wholesale at $56.64 per unit in 2009. That price skyrocketed to $317.82 by 2015, an increase of 461 percent. Company executives increased their own salaries as the cost of the EpiPen rose.

Heather Bresch, Manchin’s daughter, served as president of Mylan between 2009 and 2011. She took over as the company’s chief executive officer in 2012.

Bresch was paid $2,453, 456 in salary in 2007. Her total compensation increased to $18,931,068 in 2015, NBC News reported.
Link to article
Posted by: Besoeker   2016-08-27 07:00  

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