EpiPen , the life - saving allergy merchandise , is now a $ 1 billion a year business for Mylan , a drug company that ’s currently enduring a moving ridge of bad publicity over the over-the-top spate in EpiPen pricing . In 2007 , an EpiPen costabout $ 57 . Today that price has rocket to over $ 600 — all for about $ 1 worth of injectable music .
EpiPen is an emergency medicinal drug that ’s knife into a mortal experiencing anaphylactic jounce , a life - threatening hypersensitized chemical reaction that can be triggered by anything from bee stings to food . I ’ve never used an EpiPen , but as someone with a goober pea allergy who once made his own stumble to the ER after a in particular unfortunate eating place experience ( “ these Taiwanese beans sure are crunchy … ” ) I can tell you that anaphylactic stupor is really no playfulness .
And while it ’s improbably scary , the worst casing scenario is passing rare : Between 1999 and 2009 , decease from anaphylactic cushion in the United States rank from 186 to 225 deathsper year . To put that in perspective , about 4,800 American grownup break from choking on their food every class . But Mylan has n’t yet found a way to extract $ 1 billion from the Heimlich maneuver .
Image: Jim Cooke, Photo: Getty
“ We ’re only concern about 2 million , 2.5 million masses and conceive it ’s well , well above that , mass that are are risk for anaphylactic shock , ” say Heather Bresch , Mylan ’s chief executive officer , inOctober of 2011 . At the time , the EpiPen had roughly 98 percentage market share , essentially dominating the market .
But Mylan wanted more , and a series of savvy maneuvers reserve them to get it . From FDA insurance policy changes that expound the number of consumers to which the product could be commercialise , to legislation sign in 2013 that put EpiPens in schooling across the country , the federal politics has helped Mylan stack the deck for its product . Oh , and Sarah Jessica Parker helped too .
Mylan adopt the EpiPen when it bought a group of medications from drug company Merck in 2007 . At the time , the product only raise about $ 200 million in tax income . Today , according toBloomberg , it makes about $ 1 billion per year for the formerly US - based company , now headquartered in the Netherlands after a corporate upending last twelvemonth .
File photo of an EpiPen 2-Pak (AP Photo/Mark Zaleski)
The EpiPen is no longer covered by patent of invention protection , but it still has no real rival . Auvi - Q , the only thing that came close , was call in for drive home incorrect dosages almost a class ago . A contend drug companionship , Teva , did n’t win blessing for its generic rendering of the EpiPen this twelvemonth . Teva wo n’t endeavor to win FDA approval again until at least 2017 .
So what can a company like Mylan do to increase profits on an one-time ware , like EpiPen , when it ’s already trance 98 pct market share and has no real competitors ?
One option is to increase price . The second is to increase the size of the grocery by convince regulators , like the FDA , that the production should be marketed directly to a broad belt of the population . Then , a company can pounce in with high - profile ( albeit backdoor ) endorsements , from people likeSarah Jessica Parker , to increase awareness about the conditions that EpiPen dainty . Or , better still , why not push to have institution like public school incentivized under federal jurisprudence to carry the product ? Mylan has spent the preceding decade doing all of the above .
President Barack Obama signs the School Access to Emergency Epinephrine Act (H.R. 2094) in the Oval Office of the White House on 10 May 2025 (Photo by Kristoffer Tripplaar-Pool/Getty Images)
the great unwashed with expensive health insurance pay about $ 30 each for EpiPen . But not everyone is so golden . Families with scurvy monetary value , in high spirits deductible architectural plan are reportedly paying anywhere from $ 150 to $ 400 for asingle ring of EpiPen . And parent who now see EpiPens as a necessity are fearing for their children ’s lives when they ca n’t get to the drug . Especially when the new normal established by public awareness campaigns is that people at endangerment for anaphylactic shock absorber should have multiple EpiPens — at study , in the car , at dwelling house , at school day , and on their person .
Some members of Congress are not only calling for Mylan to straightaway get down the price of EpiPen , but for investigation by the FTC within the next few months . What they do n’t remark is that many of them helped create this position , even if it was with the best of intentions .
“ This outrageous increase in the cost of EpiPens is occurring at the same clock time that Mylan Pharmaceutical is exploiting a monopoly market advantage that has fallen into its lap covering , ” Senator Amy Klobuchar from Minnesota saidin a recent statementcriticizing Mylan ’s business practices .
Sarah Jessica Parker appearing on Access Hollywood Live in May 2016 to talk about her son’s peanut allergy (Screenshot)
“ Patients all over the U.S. bank on these intersection , include my own girl , ” she continued . “ Not only should the Judiciary Committee hold a auditory modality , the Federal Trade Commission should investigate these damage growth immediately . The Commission should also report to Congress on why these extortionate Leontyne Price increases have become common and propose solutions that will easily protect consumer within 90 days . ”
But Congress spent the past few long time serve Mylan get into schools with virtually no thought to the fact that it had a monopoly on a life history - saving drug .
The natural law did two things : It fundamentally protect anyone at public school from any hurt , allow for they injected student with EpiPens in good faith . Which is to say , it was basically a Good Samaritan jurisprudence for allergy - specific position . antecedently , first responders and public schoolhouse nurses were the only masses allowed to inject child with Adrenalin if they were having an allergic reaction . And in the instance of the school nurse , it was almost always the case that they could only inject the child if the EpiPen belong to the child . The unexampled legislation encouraged the stocking of EpiPen reserves , and made those reserves communal .
A post from Sarah Jessica Parker’s Instagram account promoting the Anaphylaxis for Reel campaign (Instagram)
“ Some people may know that Malia actually has a peanut allergy , ” President Obama say at the timeabout his daughter . “ She does n’t have bronchial asthma , but obviously making trusted that EpiPens are available in subject of emergency in schools is something that every parent can understand . ”
The nib also provided some financial incentives for schools that did n’t already stock the EpiPen to start stocking them . Which seems well and honorable , until you realize that without any real competition , you ’re create a billet where once that drug caller has a presence in most every schooling in the country , it can raise price .
Not everyone like the law when it was first proposed . Specifically , the National School Superintendents ’ Association , AASA , object on the grounds that it was go to be costly , peculiarly since the automobile - injectors would have to be replaced forever . The EpiPen only has a shelf spirit of about 12 months .
Mylan has a broadcast that distributes barren EpiPens to schools . So I postulate Mylan over email if its program restocks the intersection for a sealed numeral of years after they choke . The company did n’t respond to my question and rather station a generic prepared statement : “ Since the beginning of the EpiPen4Schools ® initiative in 2013 , more than 700,000 gratuitous EpiPen ® Auto - Injectors have been distributed , and more than 65,000 school , close to half of all U.S. schools , have participated in the program , ” the relevant part of the program line study .
If you ’ve been buy in your home with EpiPens since around 2010 , you probably noticed a change in your prescription drug . It was around that metre that new guidelines from the FDA stated that patients who get the 0.3 mg dose of epinephrine in a single EpiPen should actually be prescribedtwo 0.3 mg doses . So EpiPen start trade the intersection entirely in two-fold packs .
Another big switch at the FDA ? The way opened up the floodgates when it allowed EpiPens to be commercialize to masses who potentially had a risk of an anaphylactic reaction in 2008 . Previously the production could only be marketed to citizenry who had a prove anaphylactic response to allergens .
“ The labeling modification to the Indications Language in the EpiPEN recording label was approved in 2008 to clarify the indication , ” FDA voice Theresa Eisenman tell me over email , denote to whom the product could be market to specifically .
“ The heading of using EpiPen is to prevent a life - jeopardise spot ( i.e. full - bollix up anaphylaxis with circulatory /respiratory collapse etc . ) Clinically , there is a broad spectrum of anaphylaxis presentations that expect clinical judging . The goal of using EpiPen is to prevent symptoms from progressing . ”
So where ’s all that money that Mylan ’s devising going ? Some is presumably going to actress Sarah Jessica Parker , who was approached by Mylan to talk about her boy ’s life - threatening allergic reaction through the campaignAnaphylaxis for Reel ™ . The campaign , whose name was brandmark this retiring May , encourages citizenry to go online and apportion stories about how severe allergies have bear upon their sept , and make an “ anaphylaxis action plan . ”
You ’d be forgiven if you slip Anaphylaxis for Reel ™ as a charity group . TheYouTube pagefor The Doctors goggle box show on CBS even misidentifies the group as a non-profit-making organization , and does n’t acknowledge that during Sarah Jessica Parker ’s appearing on the show she ’s speaking on behalf of Mylan .
From the YouTube description :
Actress Sarah Jessica Parker opens up about her Word James Wilkie ’s living - threatening allergic reaction , and the terrifying sidereal day that he proceed into anaphylactic shock . She also shares her mania for the non - profit “ Anaphylaxis for Reel . ”
Anaphylaxis for Reel ™ is n’t a charity . It ’s an awareness campaign , started by Mylan and propose at parents and the roughly 5 percent of American kids who have a food for thought allergic reaction . And there ’s nothing wrong with sentience crusade . But Mylan is n’t prove awareness out of the kindness of its nerve , nor would we expect it to . Mylan is in business to make money , and hired Sarah Jessica Parker to be a interpreter to , by extension phone , deal more EpiPens .
Sarah Jessica Parker never sound out the brand name EpiPen when she does TV appearances for Mylan . As you may see in one deterrent example below , she enjoin her son “ always has two epinephrine motorcar - injectors and he always has them on his person . Always , always , always . ”
Of course , EpiPen does n’t have any competition , so if you go to the doctor and postulate for an epinephrin auto - injector , you may guess what you ’ll get . Even if a competitor entered the market tomorrow , they ’d be no terror to EpiPen in the short term . And Mylan CEO Heather Bresch has recognize in late earnings calls that generic competitors would probably only help oneself expand reach . EpiPen is essentially the generic name for this product in the minds of consumers — the Kleenex of plastic tube you stab yourself in the leg with when you retrieve you ’re going to die .
We reached out to Sarah Jessica Parker ’s publicist on Monday morning but did not have an on - the - record instruction by pressure time , Tuesday good afternoon .
Update , 4:11pm : Sarah Jessica Parker ’s publiciser sent me the following command about her experience with Mylan and hersocial mediapostsabout the company :
Sarah Jessica was a spokesperson for Mylan ’s anaphylaxis cognizance campaign . Epinephrine auto - injectors have been a vital part of her syndicate ’s health charge , as recommended by the family baby doctor to help make do her son ’s liveliness - threatening earthnut allergy. She has always been forthright about her connexion to this campaign , both in background materials sent to press in preparation for interviews , as well as in her personal social media posts .
Update , August 25th , 1:10pm : Sarah Jessica Parker has officiallysevered her tieswith Mylan and said on Instragram that she has been , “ left disappointed , sadden and deeply touch by Mylan ’s actions . ”
https://gizmodo.com/sarah-jessica-parker-cuts-ties-with-epipen-makers-after-1785744226
Some people seem to be under the impression that an EpiPen is all you postulate for a severe allergic reaction . But it ’s really just the first , life - saving gradation in treatment . The goal is to open your airway so you’re able to be delight to a hospital and do by by doctor . Which is part of the reason I ’ve turn back fill my prescription for EpiPen . Perhaps stupidly . I ’m taking the work out risk that I live in a major city and can get to a infirmary in meter , should I have a knockout allergic response .
Whenever someone offers me food with nuts or peanuts and I excuse that I ’m hypersensitised , they call for if it ’s fine that the food is in the same room as me . I have to explain that it ’s only when I actually eat up the nuts that I have a reaction . They still give me a crabwise look , like they ’re endangering my wellness and do n’t conceive that I ’m dead safe .
In world , anaphylactic shock from airborne vulnerability is soincredibly rarethat if you think your allergy can be triggered by being in the same way as monkey nut and you ’re not literally live in a house of cards right now , it plausibly ca n’t .
And the most likely type of inadvertent picture , earthnut touching the skin , does n’t even cause anaphylactic shock . One double - blind , placebo - see to it studyin 2003took 30 kids with severe peanut allergies and disseminate Arachis hypogaea butter over their skin for 15 minutes . A full 27 of the kids experienced no inauspicious response of any sort . The three other kid get mild blizzard from the peanut butter .
The awareness campaigns of companies like Mylan have worked . But have they cultivate too well ? Should every kid with even a intimation of a sniffle around nutrient be carrying an EpiPen with her at all times ? An wage call from this preceding February might give citizenry around the rest of the human race some inkling of things to get . Mylan continues to expand the food market for the EpiPen in the US , but there ’s a great big world out there .
“ Not only do I see it throughout Europe as an opportunity , but as we continue to look and append enhancements and how we bring EpiPen to the food market and various other realm around the world , ” CEO Bresch said . “ We do see , like I said , a draw of opportunity even alfresco of Europe with the ease of the world , as we continue to invest around EpiPen and the awareness of anaphylaxis . ”
You know what ’s cool than a billion dollar ? A billion Euros .
Correction 4:08pm : This article originally misstated that Mylan had purchased Merck . Mylan had purchased a mathematical group of medications from Merck that included the EpiPen .
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