Heard about EpiPen CEO?

[LastPoet]

Yeah, idiotic.  Like a cap isn't obvious to everyone, much less someone versed in engineering, which according to law should invalidate the patent.

Which of course they won't because the overwhelming number of patent cases are cherry picked into a particular Texas court that is very friendly to the patent holders.

Fucking system is rotten all around.  Excuse the French.

This kind of shit really is what makes me think libertarians are a bit naive. If with governments they pull shit like this, one expect them to self regulate? Never underestimate the power of human greed.

[Jackalope]

Yeah, idiotic.  Like a cap isn't obvious to everyone, much less someone versed in engineering, which according to law should invalidate the patent.

Which of course they won't because the overwhelming number of patent cases are cherry picked into a particular Texas court that is very friendly to the patent holders.

Fucking system is rotten all around.  Excuse the French.

This kind of shit really is what makes me think libertarians are a bit naive. If with governments they pull shit like this, one expect them to self regulate? Never underestimate the power of human greed.

Indeed. I don't have a problem with business wanting to earn money, even lots of it - but this is listening medicine that costs nearly nothing to make.

Single payer and universal coverage, now please.

[Cato]

Yeah, idiotic.  Like a cap isn't obvious to everyone, much less someone versed in engineering, which according to law should invalidate the patent.

Which of course they won't because the overwhelming number of patent cases are cherry picked into a particular Texas court that is very friendly to the patent holders.

Fucking system is rotten all around.  Excuse the French.

This kind of shit really is what makes me think libertarians are a bit naive. If with governments they pull shit like this, one expect them to self regulate? Never underestimate the power of human greed.

Not so. The consideration you might be missing hinges on the previous patent discussion. The existing patents on the delivery system is what creates the monopoly. Market competition artificially stifled due to government awarded patents and FDA regulation is counter to libertarian principles. I would be gobsmacked if libertarian leaning outlets weren't already making this argument.

[Brian37]

How does that work? I get my scripts filled at Walgreens. If I call them and then call Rite-Aid or CVS and ask all three how much the EpiPen costs for my ins. company, I will get three different answers. I know because I used to get my scripts filled at Weis and then I switched to Rite-Aid and finally Walgreens because they are open 24/7 and I like the convenience.

I think the major retail pharmacies all negotiate separately with insurers and don't get the same deals.  Same goes with healthcare providers.

I hate this dodge. A business is a business, be it Walmart, McDonalds, Johnson & Johnson, or Blue Cross. Reagan's deregulation has allowed all big businesses to dictate, so the only competition, is between them, so those "negotiations" are still a monopoly. Very little of that translates to savings to the consumer. As long as we subsidize tax breaks for big business, and allow them to dictate lawmaking, the cost of living gap will keep exploding. What needs to happen is simple, better pay for workers. The worst part is that the idiots in the top tax bracket could benefit from better pay because people would have more to spend, and it would create less dependency on government. 

What we have now is corporate blackmail. Stop the blackmail, things will get better.

[Drich]

You douche bags do understand, the life saving drug is not what is gone up, but the devise that has been created to deliver it conveniently has gone up...

The medicine it self still costs next to nothing, pair that with a cheap syringe and you have a solution that cost less than a 1/3 of what the epi pen cost before the price increase.

The media and spoiled or stupid parents are the only ones who feel entitled to the convince the epi-pen provides. I say F-u to those too proud to learn how to use a syringe. the creator of the pen should be allow to sell it at any price, so long as the base drug is still accessible and affordable.

[Minimalist]

Yesterday, on CNN, Senator Amy Klobuchar was talking about this issue and said "this is the kind of thing that cannot happen here."

No, senator, this is the kind of thing that only seems to happen here.  Now why oh why is that?

Along with her push for judicial hearings with the support of Senator Charles Grassley, the head of the Judiciary Committee, Klobuchar also introduced four bills, three of which are bipartisan, in the attempts of stopping Mylan's monopoly on epinephrine auto-injectables. One would allow the drugs to come in from Canada, where EpiPens are still priced around $100, and another would stop pharmaceutical companies and the generic medicine companies to create a monopoly. But Klobuchar says that all of the bills have been opposed, largely from pharmaceutical lobbyists.

Oh, right.

[Minimalist]

Hmm...

http://www.rawstory.com/2016/08/epipen-m...ors-panic/

Over the course of her tenure at the company, Bresch — daughter of U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) — raised her own salary 617 percent and conducted an offshore reincorporation of Mylan, Inc. under the Netherlands’ looser corporate laws, but maintained the company’s headquarters and operations in the U.S.. This practice is known as “inversion” and it has become a popular way for U.S. companies to lower their effective tax rate while continuing to enjoy all the market rights and privileges of companies conducting all of their business domestically.

Bresch — who was one of Fortune magazine’s most powerful women of 2015 — gave a disastrous interview to CNBC on Thursday, attempting to pass off her $16 million salary hike and the 450 percent increase in EpiPen prices as perfectly normal business practices in the pharmaceutical industry.

Yep.  THAT is the problem!

[Aroura]

You douche bags do understand, the life saving drug is not what is gone up, but the devise that has been created to deliver it conveniently has gone up...

The medicine it self still costs next to nothing, pair that with a cheap syringe and you have a solution that cost less than a 1/3 of what the epi pen cost before the price increase.

The media and spoiled or stupid parents are the only ones who feel entitled to the convince the epi-pen provides. I say F-u to those too proud to learn how to use a syringe. the creator of the pen should be allow to sell it at any price, so long as the base drug is still accessible and affordable.

As someone who was once married to a diabetic, I do think everyone should learn how to give an injection.

That being said, not everyone does, or would even know the correct dose to load up into a regular syringe.

If you have a life threatening allergy, and you keep you medicine and needle with you at all times, then you pass out from said allergy and the only person around happens to be the 17 year old next door neighbor, or some elderly lady passing by with her dog ( and if they do nothing but call an ambulance, you will die before they can reach you), do you want them to have to attempt to correctly load the syringe and accurately inject you?  Or just have a device you stab into a thigh and it does it correctly for you?

This device saves lives AS MUCH AS THE DRUG ITSELF.  That is why it is such a big deal.

And fu too, you selfish little man.

[Minimalist]

Dripshit is so "christ-like!"

[rexbeccarox]

This scares me. I have to rely on an Epi Pen for my allergies to nuts because it's life threatening allergy. If the cost is that expensive, my insurance company might decide that they are no longer going to pay for it. So if that happens, my life just became worthless to my insurance company simply because the drug company is too greedy to lower the cost to something reasonable.

It is a sad day when one's own life is threatened by the greed of a pharmaceutical company's desire to keep their bottom line full.

I wish I didn't have to depend on an Epi Pen, but my allergies don't give me any other option.

Same here.

You douche bags do understand, the life saving drug is not what is gone up, but the devise that has been created to deliver it conveniently has gone up...

The medicine it self still costs next to nothing, pair that with a cheap syringe and you have a solution that cost less than a 1/3 of what the epi pen cost before the price increase.

The media and spoiled or stupid parents are the only ones who feel entitled to the convince the epi-pen provides. I say F-u to those too proud to learn how to use a syringe. the creator of the pen should be allow to sell it at any price, so long as the base drug is still accessible and affordable.

See Aroura's response, you vile, awful...

On top of it, because of the growing cost of Epi Pens, I was going to Mexico to obtain epinephrine and syringes. When I came to Florida, TSA wouldn't let my epinephrine on the plane. What do you suggest one do in a situation such as that? And do you suggest I trust some stranger to administer a syringe full of the correct amount of epinephrine? When my throat is closing up and I'm panicking because of it, how do you suppose I'll administer my own?

What is wrong with you??