epipen - illegal federal law creating monopoly

by Rose Rohloff

​This needs to be addressed at the State & Federal levels - fighting the unconstitutional Federal violation of the Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890 by Congress and the Executive Branch. [The Federal Gov is also violating pushing for Narcan to be in every household - pouring gasoline on fires - because now people think they can be saved continuing to overdose on street drugs, especially Fentanyl: read NARC PARTY - OPIOID CRISIS AND SURGEON GENERAL ADVISORY

How Mylan, the maker of EpiPen, became a virtual monopoly - The Washington Post
washingtonpost.com› business › economy › 2016 › 08 › 25 › 7f83728a-6aee-11e6-ba32-5a4bf5aad4fa_story.html
August 26, 2016 - The company lobbied lawmakers — both directly and indirectly — to increase the availability of epinephrine autoinjectors in U.S. schools.

Use Case: A police officer was having hives and went to an emergency room. The staff asked him if  he wanted an EpiPen. His response, "What the hell is it? The staff did not educated him, provide one to him to use if he felt he needed it. I informed him to read the fine print = it was a dose for a child an not a grown 200lb man, with an expiring date in a couple of weeks.

On November 13, 2013, President Obama signed into law the School Access to Emergency Epinephrine Act. The federal legislation provides a financial incentive for states to enact their own laws requiring schools to keep non-student specific epinephrine auto-injectors in case of an emergency. And so, the Federal Government created an illegal monopoly for company who owns the patented auto-injector, not the medication, followed by price gouging, especially for times of crisis, and finally panicked outrage in the public. 

2024 pricing https://entirelypetspharmacy.com/epinephrine-injection-1-to-1000-sterile-multi-dose-vial-50ml.html

• There is a generic = a school nurse can draw up epinephrine or have prefilled, very inexpensive syringes
• The public was poorly researched, educated/informed regarding the difference of the medication and the auto-injector delivery system. 

'There's nothing to give them': Patients, pharmacists scrounging for EpiPens Full story
Patients and pharmacists nationwide are grappling with a persistent shortage of Mylan's EpiPen, forcing some to travel great distances or go through several hoops to access the lifesaving allergy treatment, according to Bloomberg.
EpiPens have been difficult to obtain since at least May 2018, when the FDA alerted the public to the shortage.

Updated price Jan 2024 https://www.drugs.com/price-guide/epinephrine#

Generic = vial, https://www.emsstuff.com/epinephrine-1mg-vial-anaphylaxis/ 2024 price

Cheaper "do-it-yourself" alternative EpiPen may carry more ...https://www.cbsnews.com/news/cheaper-epipen-alternative-may-carry-risks/
The cost is about $20 - $15 for a syringe and $5 for a vial or two of the drug.

Summary

• Obama signed into law an illegal monopoly
• The Mylan company does not control the patent on the drug epinephrine, only their autoinjector Epipen.
• Epinephrine comes in multi-does vials: EpiPens are only single dose!
• CDC stats read 4%-6% have food allergies, only .001 of the population has anaphylaxis to nuts + shell fish, the biggest allergy issues, 63 to 99 deaths occur each year in the United States due to anaphylaxis.