美国国家公共电台 NPR EpiPen Manufacturer Says It Will Help With Out-Of-Pocket Costs

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EpiPen Manufacturer Says It Will Help With Out-Of-Pocket Costs

RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:

And I'm Renee Montagne with news of the latest drug to generate controversy over its high cost. It's the EpiPen injectors that can stop life threatening allergic reactions. Those with severe allergies carry EpiPen injectors with them everywhere. What's concerning many people, including politicians, is the price. It's jumped about 400 percent in just a decade.

And there's news this morning on that front. The company that makes EpiPen has announced new measures it says will help people with the cost. NPR's health policy correspondent Alison Kodjak is here to talk with us about the issue. Good morning.

ALISON KODJAK, BYLINE: Good morning, Renee.

MONTAGNE: So before we got the latest news about this help in paying, give us some background. How much money are we talking about?

KODJAK: Well, the retail price right now for a package of 2 EpiPens is over $600. And just a few years ago, that was about $100, and you could buy them one at a time. So people with really good insurance aren't paying $600, but more and more people have high deductibles or policies with limited coverage. So they're seeing their wallets hit pretty hard.

MONTAGNE: The drug that is in the EpiPen injector - epinephrine - has been around a long time. So how is it that they can charge so much?

KODJAK: Well, EpiPen, the brand name of the specific injector that Mylan Pharmaceuticals makes - Mylan bought it a few years ago from another company, and it wasn't that profitable at the time. But what they did is they really pushed it. They marketed it like crazy and really turned it into an indispensable product.

They did what they call an awareness campaign of anaphylactic shock, which is the severe allergic reaction. They gave the pens to the schools. They even lobbied Congress to change the law, so they would encourage schools to keep EpiPens on hand. So now if you go to the doctor with a severe allergy, that doctor's most likely going to prescribe EpiPen by name and not another competitor.

MONTAGNE: Well, now let's get up to date on the controversy. Members of both parties in Congress have been turning up the heat on Mylan, and Hillary Clinton spoke out on this yesterday calling the company to lower its price, as she put it, immediately. How has the company responded?

KODJAK: Well, it's kind of done what Hillary Clinton said. It lowered the price immediately, but not really. It didn't lower the retail price. It issued a release today saying it would provide up to $300 in coupons to consumers to defray the high cost if they have high deductibles or co-payments. And they're also offering a patient assistance program, if you're low income. Up to now, their position has been it won't matter what they charge if insurance pay the whole thing. But insurers aren't paying the whole thing anymore, so they had to respond with this $300 coupon thing in order to quiet down consumers who have become very angry and complained to their congressmen.

MONTAGNE: And will that do the trick? Will it diffuse the anger that's been directed at this company?

KODJAK: I think we'll have to wait and see. We have to see how the actual program works and whether it quells the anger of the consumers who have been complaining to members of Congress. What we do know now is Senator Amy Klobuchar, who is a Democrat, has asked the Federal Trade Commission to investigate. And Senator Chuck Grassley, a Republican who's also chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, sent the company a letter asking a lot of questions.

And there are a lot of other lawmakers jumping on the bandwagon, but there's a little twist in this and that is that the CEO of Mylan, Heather Bresch, is the daughter of Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia. Up to now, her company's spent millions lobbying Congress to encourage schools to stock EpiPens. There have been some other drug company CEOs who've gotten pretty harsh grillings on Capitol Hill over high prices, so we'll have to watch to see how this plays out.

MONTAGNE: NPR's health policy correspondent Alison Kodjak, thanks very much.

KODJAK: Thank you, Renee.