EpiPen Prices Result Of Near Monopoly Power

While I’m going on about the corruption in the US economy, I guess I should also mention the patent and copyright protections that many companies enjoy long after those protections should have run out. Nowhere is the problem more sever than in the prescription drug sector. Today, we find that the cost of an EpiPen, a lifesaving device for people with severe allergies, has risen dramatically in the last seven years. In 2009, a two-pen set (the recommended number for an individual at risk to carry) cost a little over $100 and the pens expire after one year requiring users to refill annually. By this May, that price had spiked to over $600. The EpiPen is a product that has been around for decades and in 2009 Mylan acquired the product. Since then, the price of the product has risen 600%. The company blames high deductible insurance policies and point out that they offer a $100 coupon for the product. But that still does not cover the entire cost of the drug for the people who need it. A competing product Auvi-Q was recently pulled from the market due to dosing concerns and leaving the Mylan product as the only one available. But prices hikes began long before their competition withdrew – the rise in prices is a clear result of only having one or two businesses in a particular market and a company that is bent on exploiting that position.