Health

I’ve recently spent some time connecting with Dr. Julie Brown, a Pediatric Emergency Medicine Physician and Associate Professor at the University of Washington. For the last several years, she has been sounding the alarm on injuries sustained after patients use the EpiPen. Her research is startling.  

She uses social media to get the word out, both her Pinterest page and Facebook, but as she tried to bring awareness to larger organizations and platforms, her concerns were often met with silence.

Her story, in her own words, is below:

This is my story. I am a Pediatric Emergency Medicine Physician, working in a children’s hospital. While on shift one day, I received an ambulance delivering a 4-year-old boy who had suffered an anaphylactic reaction while at daycare. His daycare providers had appropriately decided to inject him with his EpiPen. Two of them together attempted to restrain him and hold the device in place for the required 10 seconds. He, not surprisingly, struggled, and the needle tore down his leg, resulting in a long leg laceration, and then dislodged. The daycare provider, believing it took the full 10 seconds to deliver the medication, instinctively tried to reinsert the needle, resulting in a second laceration. This poor young man thus not only required treatment for his anaphylaxis, he now also had two large wounds that required repair.

After this shift, I realized I didn’t know enough about EpiPens and how they worked. It seemed strange to me that such a small dose of epinephrine would take such a long time to eject from the device. And I couldn’t think of another situation in medicine where we would hold a needle in a child’s muscle for 10 seconds and expect that to happen without issue. So I decided to do a little investigating. First, I asked a colleague for a used EpiPen, which I fired off in a small light box I bought online, while videotaping. I ended up firing off many EpiPens, and you can watch one of these videos here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r6ZkAx7djyk. What struck me was that the medication was always fully ejected in less than a second. Now I was even more puzzled. The more I researched, the more I realized there was little evidence to support holding the device for 10 seconds, and compelling evidence that 3 seconds was more than enough (I can share all this information in greater detail if you are interested). It seemed that the reason for the 10 second hold was historical, and related to the use of atropine injectors by the military as a nerve gas antidote. There were really no facts to support it as good practice for epinephrine devices. And yet, we were routinely subjecting parents and children to this 10-second hold.

Furthermore, I also discovered that nowhere in the instructions for use did it mention restraining a child while administering the medication, even in the pediatric formulations of the device, like EpiPen Jr. So these poor parents were being placed in a position of administering the device, holding a needle in their child’s thigh for 10 seconds, without even being given the simple advice to restrain their child. This seemed to me like an injury just waiting to happen. I thought I had better at least share with my colleagues what I had learned.

Here is where my journey really began. I emailed my colleagues and told them if they were prescribing an EpiPen, they should advise their caregivers to hold the child well, because I had cared for a child with leg lacerations, and the instructions for use said nothing about patient restraint. To my surprise, one of my colleagues replied that SHE had recently had a child with a leg laceration from an EpiPen. Now I knew I was on to something. I decided I had better explore the issue further. So I wrote an email and posted it on a Pediatric Emergency Medicine list-serve called PEM-L. And lo and behold, I heard about another 11 cases, plus a few other injuries. And what’s more, one of the physicians said the mother of his patient told her that she had seen photos of similar injuries on a Facebook allergy group called No Nuts Moms.

What happened next changed me and my career forever. I naively joined the closed group ‘No Nuts Moms’ to ask about leg lacerations from EpiPens. And I learned about many more, from some of the most amazing allergy moms I could ever hope to know, who selflessly shared their stories of the most traumatic days of their lives. But they and other allergy parents also opened my eyes to how much more I needed to understand about food allergies and anaphylaxis, the poor state of anaphylaxis care across the country, and the need for more research and education in the area of emergency care. I heard stories that literally made me feel ill, of children being placed at terrible risk by providers who knew less about anaphylaxis than the patient’s parents. These parents have educated me, and asked fantastic questions that have led me down paths of inquiry, so that I in turn could educate them. I have since made dozens of YouTube videos, and have Pinterest pages specific to auto-injectors, based largely on work I have done dissecting and examining these devices: https://www.pinterest.com/Donteatmagnets/epinephrine-auto-injectors-eais-epipen-auvi-qtm-al/. My understanding of these devices has been driven by the questions of these allergy moms, and I couldn’t have produced anything like the same quality of educational materials or research without the give-and-take relationship that two years of almost daily interacting on this Facebook group allowed. I am now considered an honorary allergy mom, a title I wear proudly. I am committed to focusing on anaphylaxis research for the rest of my medical career, which makes me fairly unique amongst emergency medicine colleagues. But emergency providers are needed in this field, as they are the ones who are responsible for providing the first response in the event of allergic reactions, and need the training and tools do that job well.

Ultimately, we ended up to with 26 cases of EpiPen-associated injuries, which we published, along with a review of the literature supporting a rapid release of epinephrine from the Epipen device, and recommendations for reducing the Epipen hold time. We also recommended adding restraint recommendations to the patient instructions for all epinephrine devices. A succinct summary of our research can be seen here: https://www.aaaai.org/global/latest-research-summaries/New-Research-from-JACI-In-Practice/epinephrine-autoinjectors-(1) and the full original article (which is quite graphic) is here: http://www.annemergmed.com/article/S0196-0644(15)00588-0/fulltext.

Two FDA officers, one in charge of safety and one in charge of labeling, recently emailed me to say that it was our research that was the primary driving force behind recent FDA changes, which include reducing the EpiPen hold time to 3 seconds, and adding restraint instructions to all auto-injector patient instruction materials: http://www.accessdata.fda.gov/drugsatfda_docs/label/2016/019430s061lbl.pdf#Patient. I am proud that our research was instrumental in making this change, and in making the use of EpiPens and other auto-injectors safer for children.

This study, and these FDA changes, are only the beginning for me. Driven by a passion to improve the lives of people with food allergies, and fueled by the many unanswered questions that have stacked up over the past two years, I have many other projects in progress. Our current work involves understanding the challenges around auto-injector use, and emergency preparedness. We recently published a systematic review of epinephrine stability at extreme temperatures, which is a first step in working towards expanding allowed temperature ranges for auto-injectors. We are also nearing completion of a systematic review of the stability of epinephrine when drawn up into a syringe. While this is never a good solution for anyone, the reality is that some patients are currently going without ANY epinephrine due to the high costs of auto-injectors, so a better understanding of the alternatives is important. It is also relevant to emergency care, where syringes and ampules are often used, and can result in delays to care while doses are calculated and drawn up.

In the future, I hope to do pharmacokinetic research—evaluating epinephrine levels in children in anaphylaxis, which has never been done (even in adults). I also have many ideas for education and research to improve emergency anaphylaxis care, including an anaphylaxis rap that I wrote and am trying to figure out how to get produced.

The largest barrier to accomplishing all these research goals is funding. I am frustrated by the time wasted trying to secure dwindling sources of funding that could be spent doing the research and improving the lives of children with allergies. I have a fundraising site: http://giveto.seattlechildrens.org/anaphylaxis. Please help if you can.

Please consider supporting the work of Dr. Julie Brown. She is a brave voice in our efforts to protect those with life threatening allergies.

You can reach her funding page here http://giveto.seattlechildrens.org/anaphylaxis

Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1563285626

Twitter: @donteatmagnets

And the pinterest page. https://www.pinterest.com/Donteatmagnets/

When we first read this incredibly powerful open letter from an emergency room physician to the CEO of Mylan, we knew we had to share it.  When we reached out to him, he shared additional information, offering to testify before Congress on any investigation.  Please read and share this doctor’s powerful letter.

An open letter to Mylan CEO, Heather Bresch as posted on Facebook with over 24,000 shares to date.

In light of recent news regarding EpiPens, I would like to give you an opportunity to justify your pay increase from $2,453,456 in 2007, to $18,931,068 in 2015.  In that time, the wholesale cost of an epipen has gone from $56.64 to $317.82.  By the way, the cost of a 1 ml amp of epinephrine is $4.49. So, I give you the opportunity to justify the increase in the cost of an epipen, as well as the increase in your salary.

I know you must have an explanation.

As a practicing Emergency Medicine physician, I have cared for nearly 50,000 patients in my career. As a team, my nursing staff, techs, medical assistants, Physician Assistants, are all trained to save lives. We frequently care for acute anaphylactic and allergic reactions. So, while I know you must have an explanation to my question, here are some things I know you do not know.

You do not know the look on a patient’s face when they are struggling to breath after a bee sting.

You do not know the fear a patient has when their lips and tongue are so swollen, there is barely an airway to care for.

You have never heard the sound of stridor [a harsh vibrating noise when breathing, caused by obstruction of the windpipe or larynx] when air can barely make its way to the lungs.

You have never seen the look of a parent when their child is unresponsive.

You have never had to debate whether you need to give IV epinephrine for a patient in anaphylactic shock who is hypotensive but has underlying cardiac disease with the knowledge that the drug may save their life, but may cause a heart attack.

You have never attempted to intubate a patient in respiratory failure after a bee sting.

You have never watched your own child, while on vacation, eat a peanut butter sandwich, which they have done so many times before, but breakout in a severe rash and receive a prescription for an epipen, only to be told that the pharmacy doesn’t take your insurance and you need to pay $500 out of pocket for a potential life saving medicine.

You have never performed CPR on a child.

You have never told a parent that their child died.

These are things that you do not know. However, I DO. I HAVE DONE THEM!!! WE DO. MY TEAM HAS DONE THEM!!!

So, please Ms. Bresch, justify your increase of 461% for a medication that costs $4.49, to the point that patients and families who may not have insurance have to make a decision that could lead to death. Justify your pay increase by 671%.

Justify your greed.

Sincerely,

Mark A. Kenton D.O.

When we read Jill Negro’s article and learned that she was concerned about Mylan’s new “peace offering” to Americans outraged over the skyrocketing price of EpiPens (or “olive branch” as she calls it), we felt it was important to share her words. Please meet Jill, adjunct professor and mom of two. 

I read in an article yesterday that Heather Bresch, CEO of Mylan, has called the EpiPen her “baby.” As a food allergy mom, the fact that she does so as CEO of a company that has the potential to save, and yet put the lives of my actual real life babies at risk, is ironic, to say the least.

It was then announced on HLN News that Mylan is planning on giving an additional coupon worth $300 to “certain people.” Further detail was reported on CNBC. I have to say that reading about the relief is, well, a relief. However, it will only help us if this coupon is per twin pack, rather than per prescription, and if it is available every year for the life of my two boys.

Also, who are the “certain people?” And importantly, it will also only help if the price does not continue its trajectory of 15-20 percent increases every quarter, every year, year after year. Mylan has additionally promised to double the eligibility for patient assistance. I would ask that Bresch please consider that while $97,900 for a family of four is a lot of money in many parts of the country, here in Connecticut, where the cost of living is among the highest in the world, it still may be a struggle for families, particularly those like myself with multiple school age children who need EpiPens, in a multitude of places—at camp, at school, for sports, and home.

The coupon also does not appear to account for the fact that fully insured plans will pick up the full tab without subsidy, resulting in higher premiums for those lucky enough to have the pens still covered by insurance, and that taxpayers are on the hook for families who get them through Husky in Connecticut and Medicaid.

I do not believe a temporary coupon, while it does potentially appease the masses in terms of the media uproar, and provides potential temporary relief for my family, is not an effective solution to a long-term problem.  Instead, it is further adding to the expense of companies who pay their own claims, if they are self-funded (likely affecting workers’ wages), or the government, (and therefore, us, as taxpayers), or insurance companies—thus, bringing the cost right back to consumers with food allergies in the form of higher premiums—and reduced wages. By the law of economics, in a country of public health companies beholden to their shareholders as opposed to the people actually using the products or services, increasing healthcare costs ultimately always come back to taxpayers and consumers.

We all know food allergies are rising at an alarming rate, and Mylan has continued to increase EpiPen prices each quarter, year after year. When will it end? Clearly, this is a growing problem.  Bresch is placing 99 percent of the blame on healthcare insurance, which is not accurate or fair. She has repeatedly said that deductibles have gone up “overnight.” Not true. Our family deductible has been $5,000-6,000 since 2011, and actually has gone down to $5,200 with my husband’s latest job change. I have personally had a high deductible plan since 2005. I would hardly call a span of 11 years “overnight.”

Having worked in the insurance industry for several years prior, I can say with absolute authority that there has been a push toward consumer driven healthcare — shifting more of the cost to consumers — for years. President Bush passed Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) into law in 2003. We cannot blame this on Obamacare, or high deductible plans, or anything other than greed, quite frankly. Because whether I pay the bill or insurance pays the bill or Medicaid pays the bill, the money is coming from somewhere. Mylan cannot simply charge whatever they would like and say “it’s OK, insurance/Husky/Medicaid/schools/EMTs are picking up the tab.”

Conversely, insurance companies, most of which are public, are also bound to their shareholders, and thus cannot have these prices interfere with rising profits. Do you see the problem? Again, whether it comes out of my pocketbook or not we are ALL paying for it.

Also, if this is really the hardship on Mylan as Bresch is now claiming, why has her salary risen to $18 million, annually, in the same period of time that the EpiPen price has skyrocketed? Or why has Mylan’s profit, 40 percent of which is based on EpiPens, risen to $1.3 billion, also annually, and also within the same time period?

She said part of the cost is enhancements. What enhancements have there been? She said the cost is partly due to spreading awareness and by giving free EpiPens to schools. But is that cost being billed back to my family? It seems, indeed, it is. So while Mylan gets the glory of “free EpiPen” publicity, we are the ones footing the bill.  She says there are four to five touch points of middlemen who need to make money, but hasn’t spelled out who exactly these middlemen are.

I could hardly believe when I got the call Monday from Washington D.C. asking if Sen. Richard Blumenthal could reference my story in a letter to Mylan. Equally so when the call came later asking me to speak at a press conference. How could I say no? It’s not that I couldn’t believe they wanted to talk to me, it was intense relief that I was finally being heard.

While EpiPen price gouging has been in the press the past week or so, it is not a new issue to my family. See, I have two little boys. Bradley is 4 and Jeremy is 2. Bradley and Jeremy both have food allergies, diagnosed after reactions at only 11 months old and 13 months old, respectively. They both have had multiple reactions.

Because we have a high deductible health plan we pay thousands for Epipens each year. But the financial burden of continuing to do so is becoming unbearable for our family. We’ve paid $2,000 this year alone, with the bare minimum two twin packs for each child—one at home and one at school. The price of our last refill in June this year was $599 per twin pack.

I called the exact same pharmacy, our town CVS, on Tuesday to try to budget for our cost once these expire in less than a year. I was quoted $734.94, per twin pack.  Remember, we need two for each child, minimum. According to CVS, the cost would be $2,939 or $2,839 with the “$0” coupon Mylan promotes as making the pens virtually free for all.

This for a device that, by all accounts, costs approximately $1 to manufacture, and was only $57 to purchase only a short time ago when Mylan bought the generic division from Merck.

It gets worse. I also learned once my boys start school, they will require a separate twin pack for any sports or activities. And even a separate twin pack for before- and after-school care. This brings our cost, at bare minimum, to $5,000 or more per year. And this is assuming we don’t actually use any of the Epipens. And, again, that Mylan does not continue their trend of up to 20 percent quarterly increases.

In fact, I was quite upset when I read Mylan’s comment that “most” consumers pay $0 for their pens, due to this awesome coupon—which has a $100 maximum value. This does very, very little to help my family, nor many of my friends’ families, nor the millions of families with high deductible plans.

The latest statistics show that 52 percent of employee-based health plans have high deductibles, and 90 percent of individual plans, including those in the American Affordable Care Act exchanges have high deductibles. And while this is by no account new, as Mylan would like us to believe, the trend is rising. The point being that this is not just my family’s story, but countless others. Since I have posted this on my Facebook page on Tuesday, six different people have told me that they have not filled their EpiPens. They will do so for their children (and I suspect that Mylan knows this, and is why it is such an important point that they are taking advantage of that fact), but not for themselves.

I think it is important to reiterate that we have had a high deductible plan for more than 10 years, so this is not a new, but an increasingly unbearable problem. Yet, what are people like me, with two children with life-threatening food allergies and high deductible plans, who are not also independently wealthy, going to do?

I am ashamed to say, like many, many moms have since admitted to me, that I have kept expired EpiPens to use at home. We do not have much of a choice. Last year, we used a significant portion of our savings to pay for them. This year, I will be forced to use some of my retirement money. But the government only allows a one-time rollover from an IRA to an HSA per lifetime for a family. I am using mine now. I have no idea what we will do next year. Or the year after that. Or the year after that…

We are a young family. I am a stay-at-home mom and a part-time teacher. While we are close to Mylan’s patient assistance threshold, as Connecticut residents in a fairly modest home, we make just enough to pay our expenses, with quite little left over, if at all, and months of unexpected expenses, a car repair here, a house repair there, leaves us behind and dipping into limited savings.

My oldest son, Bradley, also has asthma, and my youngest, Jeremy, has an airway defect and aplasia cutis congenita. He’s had three surgeries so far and he is only 2 1/2. My husband also survived an aortic aneurysm recently and has a lifelong medication to keep him alive. I bring this up because our medical expenses will be high regardless. I have come to accept that. What I do not, and will not, accept, however, is arbitrarily raising life-saving drug prices beyond what we and most families can afford.

A mother wants to do everything she can to protect her child. Leaving my 2-year-old and my 4-year-old children vulnerable to life-threatening allergies without a having a device close by that may potentially save their lives is unthinkable. My question to Mylan is, what would you like my family to sacrifice next so that you may keep up with your $1.3 billion annual profits? Do we sacrifice feeding or clothing our children? After all, I suppose if we cannot afford to actually feed our children, we do not have to worry about their food allergies. Or do we potentially sacrifice the lives of our children? That is the choice they are forcing many of us to make.

Arbitrarily raising prices 450-600 percent since purchasing the product is putting the lives of my children at risk because it is what my family, and most families with high deductible health plans  can afford. If the people at Mylan read this, I am asking you to do the right thing because the lives of my beautiful little boys are in your hands.

While I appreciate the olive branch of a $300 coupon, will it last? Will it apply to us? Is it enough?

Originally published at CTViewpoints and reposted with permission.

For the last ten days, we have brought attention to the EpiPen pricing issue, as we have heard from parents around the country who are stunned with the new price of a product that has been around for 50 years, especially as they head back to school and find themselves needing to buy multiple sets to keep their children safe. Like the single mom who just shared this image: a $925 price tag for one set of EpiPens with coupon and insurance.

As we began to shine a light on this issue, images flooded in when we asked parents to share pictures of their receipts.  As one mom wrote, “I thought I was the only one.”  She isn’t, and with the food allergy epidemic in full force, she is joined by millions of parents who share her concern.

For the last ten days, we have brought attention to the EpiPen pricing issue, as we have heard from parents around the country who are stunned with the new price of a product that has been around for 50 years, especially as they head back to school and find themselves needing to buy multiple sets to keep their children safe. Like the single mom who just shared this image: a $925 price tag for one set of EpiPens with coupon and insurance.

As we began to shine a light on this issue, images flooded in when we asked parents to share pictures of their receipts.  As one mom wrote, “I thought I was the only one.” She isn’t, and with the food allergy epidemic in full force, she is joined by millions of parents who share her concern.

How can a parent keep a child safe if they can no longer afford this life saving device? What cost-benefit analysis is being done by the company to justify the skyrocketing price tags – an almost 500% increase in just 6 years? And what value are they putting on the lives of Americans when they run their models, testing the price elasticity of their signature product that accounts for 40% of their revenue?

We have countless stories now, but here are two real-life stories of families impacted dramatically by the price-gouging and profiteering practices of Mylan Pharmaceuticals. Their pricing practices are placing the life-saving EpiPen out of reach of many families. Lives are in danger for the sake of share price and executive compensation. Perhaps the most trying issue in all of this is that the U.S. is the only country in the world where this price-gouging is happening.  We also have one of the highest rates of food allergies.

The issue has taken on such concern that EpiPen Canada recently issued a statement on their Facebook page:

“IMPORTANT: Please note that recent news of EpiPen® price increases announced by Mylan, the US distributor of EpiPen®, apply to the US market only. They do not impact Canada (where EpiPen® is distributed by Pfizer Canada). In Canada, medicine prices are regulated and price increases are strictly controlled. As such, the price Canadians pay for EpiPen® has remained fairly consistent for several years.”

The company in the U.S. will argue that insurance covers these jaw-dropping costs, as well as a coupon that they offer. This statement is incomplete at best, as families with high deductibles find themselves paying the full price of between $600-800 while families around the world pay anywhere between $58 and $98. Families that don’t have insurance are simply out of luck, and many are praying that their child or loved one does not encounter a hidden ingredient in a meal that could end a life.

Read these stories and use this link to contact your representatives in Washington. It is time to put and end to pharma price gouging and profiteering.

See the gallery of images at the end of this article for more evidence of Mylan’s deplorable greed.

Elizabeth Bostic’s Story

I am the mother of a 9 year old with peanut and tree-nut allergies, a history of anaphylaxis, and asthma. We are a single income family with a high deductible insurance, and have watched the price of EpiPens rise for years. We need a set for home and a set for school. The last time I went to pick up my daughter’s EpiPenJR I was shocked when the price had shot up once again in less than a year. The price went up about $200 from the last time I had purchased them. At well over $700 a box at my local Publix pharmacy, I declined to purchase the Epipens. Even with the Mylan coupon the price was still over $600 a pack. I searched for a cheaper option and found that the only other option was the generic version of Adrenaclick. Only one local pharmacy would order one, and it was still expensive at over $500.

There have been times where a purse, belt, or bag with the EpiPens in it has been left accidentally in a hot car, and at over $600 a pack to replace the EpiPens, I hate to admit that I have chosen to forgo replacing the EpiPens. If the cost of the EpiPens were more affordable, I would have replaced them right away to be 100% certain of their effectiveness. My daughter is learning to be responsible and self carry her medications while out and about, a simple mistake, a little purse left in a hot car after a day out, or a lost Epi belt, is a very costly mistake, and discourages me from allowing her to carry her medications when I should be encouraging it at her age.

Jennifer DiMercurio’s Story

My husband left his job of seven years in October 2014. His father had to undergo Chemotherapy for his Leukemia and his job was preparing the next big wave of lay-offs. We decided it would be best for him to resign and for our family to take a trip to San Diego to see his parents. Once we returned, knowing my father-in-law was stable, my husband began a new job search. We had utilized Cobra insurance for several months and were looking to get our own policy.

We began the new policy in March 2016. We were paying more per month and our deductible was very high. Our son, Liam is 7 and has severe food allergies to the top 8 (- fish + sesame) as well as severe eczema. We have had to administer his Epi Pen on 8 different occasions. The medicine has saved his life and turned around some extremely severe reactions.

In May 2015 we had to administer epinephrine due to a reaction to a generic Benedryl. At the time we purchased 2 more Epi Pens. They used to let us replace the used one, but now they required a purchase of a 2 pack every time. We had to pay around $250.00 with the discount (the $0 Co-pay card). We had never paid that amount before but we knew our new insurance policy was different. My husband had just started a new job and wasn’t receiving insurance.

In October 2015 Liam had an exposure to an unknown allergen and had to receive another EpiPen. This time the Epi Pens were closer to $400. We still had one of his recent refills, plus another pen from his pack before. We decided we didn’t need to get more at that time. I homeschool my kids so they are with me all the time and we could manage safely with 2 EpiPens. My concern would be purchasing more when the old one expired in a few months, especially at the current price.

My daughter Sofia is 9, while without any allergies, has to receive a daily injection (6 days a week) for Growth Hormone Deficiency. Her levels are so low; we have never had any trouble getting her medication. The treatment is necessary for her health and strength. Thankfully despite the high cost of her medication they send it, never making us pay upfront. The doctors are always looking for ways to help, knowing how important it is. We have been fortunate to receive assistance from CVS/Caremark as well.

On Halloween I experienced my first severe reaction. I had previous allergic reactions to latex and have suffered seasonal environmental allergies my whole life. This time a washable paint from Crayola (later I noticed the disclaimer of the possible latex gloves worn during manufacturing). I went to the ER and received a prescription for my own EpiPens. The price for 2 Epi Pens was now up to $465. My husband had taken on another job with insurance, in addition to his current job. Unfortunately, the probationary period was lengthy, so we were still on our own personal medical insurance policy. We would be until May 2016. The increase also seemed to coincide with the recent recall of Auvi-Q. The insurance company didn’t care if we needed the EpiPens. Deductibles had to be fulfilled first. Even if that meant not getting your medication.

The weekend before Christmas 2015 I had another severe reaction. I had to self-administer my EpiPen. I felt instant relief. My throat was closing and I was getting ready to pass out. We had creatively pull the money together for the first 2 Epi Pens. Our savings was depleted and we now had growing medical bills for the ER visits, in addition to our usual specialist visits.

Now we were faced with the dilemma, risk having only 1 EpiPen for me or borrowing money from someone to get another set of 2. Thankfully someone was kind enough to help us out and I had 3 EpiPens. This turned out to be a great decision because two weeks later I needed to give myself another EpiPen. I had no idea what we were going to do if we needed any more. We were out of resources. I had begged my primary care doctor to help. He was in disbelief when he saw the rabidly increasing epinephrine prices. However, he could do nothing. I asked my new allergist if she knew she could provide any help. She gave me an EpiPen $0 Co-Pay card. This was not much help and I certainly didn’t get my Epi Pens for free. In fact, the assistant at the pharmacist counter thought there was a price mistake and went to talk to the pharmacist. No one could do anything. I began hearing about prices reaching even higher for some folks.

I have seen the medication save my son’s life numerous times and experienced the lifesaving medication myself, twice. It’s not an option. Thankfully we don’t need more than 2 EpiPens per person because I homeschool. I cannot imagine with school quickly approaching what some families are going to do. Especially if there is more than one person that needs the epinephrine in a household. When my daughter needs her medication we receive it and people bend over backwards to make it available. With severe food and other allergies this is not the case. Something has to be done. We need at least 2 EpiPens at all times. I shudder to think of children and adults walking around unequipped for a severe reaction.

Sign the Petition to Stop EpiPen Price Gouging!

The number of people in the U.S. with food allergies is skyrocketing. 15 million Americans, 6 million of which are children now have food allergies. A life-threatening food allergic reaction now sends someone to the E.R. once every three minutes in the U.S.

For someone with a food allergy or who is allergic to insect bites as well, an EpiPen can mean the difference between life and death. An EpiPen is an injectable form of epinephrine which is the ONLY lifesaving medication available at this time that can quickly reverse an allergic reaction.

The price of this lifesaving medication has been skyrocketing in the past few years leaving many worrying how or if they will be able to even carry something that is their only form of life support if there was to be an allergic reaction. I have heard story after story of parents who went to pick up their Epipens and how drastically the price had changed from the last refill from approximately $50 to now over $700. That is with insurance. That is outrageous. Some families have more than one person with allergies and need to get several sets. How can anyone be expected to be able to afford this?

No one should have to decide between whether they can afford to have a lifesaving medication, feeding their family or paying their rent/mortgage. I’m a mother who lost their child to a food allergy. I cannot tell anyone enough how very important is it to be able to have epinephrine with you everywhere, you need Epipens everywhere you go. You are supposed to carry TWO with you at all times. You need them for school, childcare, grandparents, etc.

Epinephrine is the only LIFESAVING medication available and it is criminal that a company knowing that one needs this to stay alive can make it completely inaccessible to so many because of greed. When Mylan is paying out BILLIONS in salaries to their top executives and leaving us breaking piggy banks to help kids alive

Something needs to be done. They need to be stopped. How can a life be measured in $$$? How can they not care? What can we do? It is time we all do what we can now!!!