CVS Announces Super Cheap Generic Alternative To EpiPen (arstechnica.com)

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: Pharmaceutical giant CVS announced Thursday that it has partnered with Impax Laboratories to sell a generic epinephrine auto-injector for $109.99 for a two-pack -- a dramatic cut from Mylan's Epipen two-pack prices, which list for more than $600 as a brand name and $300 as a generic. The lower-cost auto-injector, a generic form of Adrenaclick, is available starting today nationwide in the company's more than 9,600 pharmacies. Its price resembles that of EpiPen's before Mylan bought the rights to the life-saving devices back in 2007 and raised the price repeatedly, sparking outcry. Helena Foulkes, president of CVS Pharmacy, said the company felt compelled to respond to the urgent need for a more affordable alternative. "Over the past year, nearly 150,000 people signed on to a petition asking for a lower-cost epinephrine auto-injector option and millions more were active in social media searching for a solution," she said in a statement. The price of $109.99 for the alternative applies to those with and without insurance, CVS noted. And Impax is also offering a coupon to reduce the cost to just $9.99 for qualifying patients. Also in the press statement, Dr. Todd Listwa of Novant Health, a network of healthcare providers, noted the importance of access to epinephrine auto-injectors, which swiftly reverse rapid-onset, deadly allergic reactions in some. "For these patients, having access to emergency epinephrine is a necessity. Making an affordable epinephrine auto-injector device accessible to patients will ensure patients have the medicine they need, when they need it."

Comments

you mean capitalism works?

[wolfgang_spangler]

That whole supply/demand thing isn't a myth?

Unpossible.

Re:you mean capitalism works?

[Anonymous Coward]

The issue there is that capitalism wasn't in play.

Due to the barrier to entry posed by drug regulation it cost too much for competitors to enter the same market, and would have remained that way if those assholes had not gone full retard.

Re: you mean capitalism works?

[Anonymous Coward]

Iff the practical economic ability to compete exists, safety regulations are enforced, collusion is prevented, consumers are educated well about their purchase decisions, etc.-- then capitalism works pretty darn great.

Re:you mean capitalism works?

[Daemonik]

The same free market is why Mylan could raise their prices to $600 or more. Pharmaceutical companies can set whatever price they want, there's no regulations against it, especially during their 5 year patent period.

Re:you mean capitalism works?

[scamper_22]

I completely understand the struggles people who are impacted by a disease and there's a cure out of there, but just costs so much.

At the same time, for all it's flaws in the patent system, in the grand scheme of things... the patent lasts like 5 or 10 or 20 years (I don't know). My point is it's not that long.

Let's remember that the drug wasn't there before. That's the price the society pays for a dynamic drug market.

You invent something; it's prohibitively expensive for a bit, then the price drops.

The alternative is... maybe it's not invented.

The former sadly is easy to rail against. The later is a bit more complex.

Re:you mean capitalism works?

[sjames]

And all it took was massive public outrage, several years and a Congressional hearing to get one drug long out of patent from outrageous to merely high priced.

Re:you mean capitalism works?

[HornWumpus]

None of those things did anything.

CVS is doing it for the money.

Re:you mean capitalism works?

[Daemonik]

Just because this is the only system you know, don't assume it's the only system that works. Before the 80's when boomers became determined to bleed every possible drop of profit out of the economy, hospitals were run by charities and the worlds most famous doctors worked at university teaching hospitals. Even today the majority of medical breakthroughs happen in universities with government grant money, not pharmaceutical giants.

There is credible evidence that in the unregulated free market once a company achieves market dominance all innovation becomes simple incremental upgrades as research money is transferred to investors. Just look at Apple for a perfect example.

For the people who keep saying regulations keep competition low... yeah, most people are perfectly happy with regulations that require companies to actually prove their devices work, they're well funded and their investors aren't gangsters.. so horrible that the people who invented Shake Weights might not be able to bring us their amazing magnet powered pacemakers I'm sure they were working on.

Re:you mean capitalism works?

[Anonymous Coward]

The easy solution (same AC here), is for the government to simply rescind the patent and produce the device and distribute it at cost. Eminent domain. It's used for bullshit reasons like building a shopping center; this is the kind of thing it was intended for. These cutpurse companies have already made their millions (billions?), so let them bitch about it.

Maybe we could start funding science again and this type of thing would be public domain to begin with.

Re:you mean capitalism works?

[Anonymous Coward]

Good luck trying to properly give yourself that injection while suffering from anaphylactic shock, can't breathe, and are about to pass out. If you think it is so easy then would you care to prove it by giving yourself a proper IM injection of saline while being waterboarded?

Re:you mean capitalism works?

[dbIII]

At the same time, for all it's flaws in the patent system, in the grand scheme of things... the patent lasts like 5 or 10 or 20 years (I don't know). My point is it's not that long.

Not that long? Apparently the epipen was invented in the mid 1970s. Most of you here were not even born at that time.

Re:you mean capitalism works?

[meerling]

It's not the epinephrine, it's the epipen that's got the protection.

Re:you mean capitalism works?

[Solandri]

No, they're able to do it for money because Mylan stupidly raised the price. If Mylan had kept the price at what it was before they acquired rights to the EpiPen, it would not have been worth it for a competitor to pay to develop their own pen, put it through the arduous FDA approval process, and put aside money to settle liability lawsuits in case something went wrong. When Mylan raised the price, it suddenly became cost-effective for someone to do all that, so CVS did. They still would've done it even if there had been no outrage, because overpricing something just creates an opportunity for someone else to swoop in and underbid you.

Good first step...

[LaughingRadish]

This is a good first step to reducing excessive prices on lifesaving / life-sustaining drugs. The next is to tackle the monopolies that exist for insulin, particularly the long-acting variety. There is only one "legal" manufacturer of Lantus in the US. A single vial costs on the open market is around $135.

You don't know what a free market is, do you?

[cirby]

You see, a "free market" is actually free, not controlled by government-run bureaucracies that make it very difficult for medical device manufacturers to produce something that ISN'T covered by patents any more.

You know, like epinephrine injectors.

Re:You don't know what a free market is, do you?

[Anonymous Coward]

It's a bitch when you have to show that your product actually works and doesn't kill people.

Re:You don't know what a free market is, do you?

[Ol Olsoc]

You see, a "free market" is actually free, not controlled by government-run bureaucracies that make it very difficult for medical device manufacturers to produce something that ISN'T covered by patents any more.

You know, like epinephrine injectors.

But I thought that America was deep in the throes of Regulations that force prices to be high.

So if we are over regulated, yet CVS has managed to bring the price down, then I don't know that a free market argument applies, because FDA, O'Blama, and Franklin Roosevelt.

After all - if a free market doesn't exist, how can it work it's magic?

Re:You don't know what a free market is, do you?

[HornWumpus]

It's 'free enough', absolutes don't exist outside the minds of theoreticians.

Re:You don't know what a free market is, do you?

[knightghost]

Speaking of "free enough" - where do I get the ones for $9.99? I'd like to add one to my emergency kit for whoever needs it.

Re:You don't know what a free market is, do you?

[PopeRatzo]

Nobody who actually wants to run a company would ever settle for a system without patents, copyrights or some form of IP protection

Companies existed long before patents and IP. Almost two centuries, in fact.

Re:You don't know what a free market is, do you?

[Tranzistors]

Indeed they did, and they protected their “rights” with guilds, gunboats and monopoly rights from monarchs. I personally would not want to have FedEx with private army.

Re:You don't know what a free market is, do you?

[PopeRatzo]

Indeed they did, and they protected their “rights” with guilds, gunboats and monopoly rights from monarchs.

So, what you're saying is, corporations have always required government intervention and labor organization to succeed. Duly noted.

At least now we can dispense with the notion that there has ever been anything like a "free market".

Re:You don't know what a free market is, do you?

[networkBoy]

generally (and the exceptions are a bitch) an expired drug is safe but its efficacy is reduced. For some products that rate of reduction is low and an expired product can be good for a year or two after the date (Liquamycin for example), for other products the rate of decline is non linear and fast, so are only good a couple months past date with any real efficacy (Covexin®-8. CDT comes to mind).

Epi seems to be between the two, within some limits:

EpiPen's shelf life has been limited by the chemistry of the drug inside it. Epinephrine is an old and cheap medication, but it's also notoriously finicky. If exposed to light, heat or air, it can degrade, turning rust colored.
The FDA-approved label warns that if the liquid in the pen is discolored, it should be discarded: "Epinephrine solution deteriorates rapidly on exposure to air or light, turning pink from oxidation to adrenochrome and brown from the formation of melanin."

Great! so there's a way to tell, separate from the date!

But what about an expired EpiPen that looks perfectly normal?

The little published data that exists shows that the drug degrades over time -- and color is not an accurate way to gauge whether the epinephrine inside is still good.

well crap, maybe not.

One study, published in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology in 2000, examined EpiPens one to 90 months after the expiration date. Most were not discolored, but the epinephrine content decreased over time. The study stated that it was best to use EpiPens that had not expired, but found that the pens contained at least two-thirds of the intended dose up to a year after expiration. Even a sub-optimal dose could be better than nothing in a life-or-death situation, the authors concluded.

So...
Looks like if stored in *ideal* conditions the pen will last more than 18 months, but under likely real-world conditions 18 months is it.
FWIW, elsewhere I found that the manufacturer had targeted 27 months, but data only supported 19 months, they went with 18. That's not a large guard band.

A free market doesn't have patents

[rsilvergun]

As the saying goes: We've already established what you are. Now we're just negotiating.

Now let's fix the stupid laws....

[Lumpy]

That make it so you have to have a prescription to buy them in the USA.
Canada they are over the counter and I buy them for my first aid Kit. it is 100% stupid to not allow anyone to buy them and make sure they can help to save lives.

Re:What lesson is that?

[HornWumpus]

The lesson to smart monopolists is 'don't charge the full tilt monopoly price unless you want to attract competition'.

Had their excess profit been less than the short term amortized cost of entering the market, they could have milked it for decades.

Charging more would have drawn competition faster.

$8 vs $100 vs $600

[primebase]

For something that *costs* about $8, even $100 is not "super cheap"... http://www.mercurynews.com/201...

Re:And mathematicians, including

[Ol Olsoc]

Including programmers

The problem with the free market, and lassaize-faire capitalism is that it is destroyed by the first group that has major success. Becuse the greed that fuels the market can become very destructive as people with pathological levels of it inevitably take over. And the simplistic early agriculture type arguments for it just don't work in a highy technical and mechanized world. You gotta have some brakes on any "ism". And the reason is, ideology doesn't work at all. Idealogues end up going insane. Its how we have people arguing that we have to put the overpaid American worker out of a job, ignoring that laid off people don't buy the shit that's being produced. Capitalism with some restraints? Now that works a trick.

Re:Good for CVS

[Anonymous Coward]

No, epipen does not have the best injection mech, only the best known brand name. If you want to waste $500 on your loved one, how about a palm reading or witch doctor? I'm sure you love them and think they are worth the extra money.

Re:Still Expensive

[raburton]

UK NHS drug tariff price for genuine Epi-Pen £52.90 for a pair (that's approx. what the NHS actually pays), actual cost to patient £8.40 (standard NHS prescription charge, exemptions apply for those on benefits, etc.) The NHS may be systematically being dismantled by the government and the media, and it's hated by Americans because they have been told it's socialist and pushed propaganda to support their country's alternative view on healthcare, and yes it does have real problems too (most of which could be solved by proper funding, but see my first point), but this is an example of why a proper healthcare system is a good thing to have. We are going to miss it in another 10 years when it's gone and find ourselves in the mess America is in.

Re:And mathematicians, including

[Solandri]

The problem with the free market, and lassaize-faire capitalism is that it is destroyed by the first group that has major success. Becuse the greed that fuels the market can become very destructive as people with pathological levels of it inevitably take over. And the simplistic early agriculture type arguments for it just don't work in a highy technical and mechanized world.

There are so many examples which disprove this that I'm amazed it was modded up: IBM PC, Compaq, Apple iPhone, 3dfx, Blackberry, Palm Pilot, Nokia, GeoCities, Myspace, Wordperfect, Lotus, Silicon Graphics, Kodak, Blockbuster, Sony Walkman, Sears, Pan Am, Schwinn, Motorola, Sun, DEC, Yahoo, Xerox copiers, Nintendo (except they managed to claw their way back with the Wii).

All of these were market leaders who in many cases once owned 80% or more of their respective markets, til they were out-competed and were replaced as king of the hill. Contrary to what you claim, it's harder to maintain a dominant market position in a highly technical and mechanized world. The rapid pace of technological progress means it's very easy to fall behind if you misstep (Yahoo, Sony, Pan Am, Blockbuster), or get lazy (Xerox, Kodak, Myspace, Blackberry), or get out-maneuvered (Nintendo - both ways, WordPerfect, Lotus, Apple iPhone, IBM PC).

The free market works most of the time. Monopolies are the exception, not the norm, and I'm fine with bashing those with government regulation when they happen. Believing that monopolies are inevitable and thus everything must be regulated, is just as foolish as believing everything will work just fine if there is no regulation.

Re:Former CVS pharmacist here

[drinkypoo]

I have good health insurance, so I got 2x EpiPens for cheap, and my insurance company had to pay ~$500-600. If you want nice things: get good health insurance.

Nom nom nom this cake is delicious

If we've learned anything from this ~6 year Obamacare experiment it's that there's no such thing as a free lunch.

Romneycare was always intended as a handout to insurance companies.

Re:And mathematicians, including

[Anonymous Coward]

The free market works most of the time. Monopolies are the exception, not the norm, and I'm fine with bashing those with government regulation when they happen. Believing that monopolies are inevitable and thus everything must be regulated, is just as foolish as believing everything will work just fine if there is no regulation.

But monopolies are inevitable. The funny thing about Capitalism and free markets is that the participants are incentivised to destroy the system. Free markets require competition, free information, and low cost of entry, among other things. Individual businesses are incentivised to crush the competition, keep information secret, and erect barriers to entry. Thus Capitalism contains the seeds of it's own destruction and must be saved from itself.