The decision to use syringes is concerning for some physicians and patient advocates who warn that it is much more complicated to obtain the correct dosage.
Canonsburg, Pa.-based Mylan, which manufactures the EpiPen, raised the price of the instrument roughly 400 percent since 2004, according to a Bloomberg report. In 2004, a pack of two EpiPens cost about $100 in today’s dollars; today, the same pack would be about $600.
While cheaper alternative do exist, they are not as popular with consumers. Sanofi, a French company based in Paris, marketed Auvi-Q — the EpiPen’s main competitor — until 2015 when it was taken off the market. A similar device called Adrenaclick made by Amedra Pharmaceuticals in Horsham, Pa., was only prescribed a few hundred times, according to the PBS report.
The FDA has declined to approve a generic version of the EpiPen, reasoning that it was not equivalent and therefore could not be substituted when filling a prescription. Teva Pharmaceutical Industries applied to market a generic EpiPen, but was also rejected by the FDA in 2015.
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