Pharmaceutical companies' spiking drug prices is nothing new, but Mylan executives have come under fierce scrutiny after news broke of the company increasing EpiPen's price nearly 400 percent in the last 10 years, according to The New York Times.
Following public criticism, Mylan offered a cheaper generic version of EpiPen, but the problem within the pharmaceutical industry remains. NYT reports Mylan is employing a common strategy, which entails, "take something old and repackage it to make it new and patentable — and then see what price the market will bear." Other medications flooding the markets are priced at huge rates. Asthma inhalers, once priced at less than $15, now can cost between $50 and $100.
Some companies are creating devices that are safer and more convenient for consumers, and using these features to justify exorbitant prices. The United States may need to take a closer look at these prices, as adrenaline, a dose of epinephrine, costs merely $1 to produce but carried a retail price of $50 in 2004. The cost-benefit ratio is becoming more and more skewed, according to NYT.
To combat price hikes, Aaron Kesselheim, MD, an associate professor at Boston-based Harvard Medical School, tells NYT, the U.S. government could bring in emergency imports of cheaper products when needed. Additionally, a national agency could implement price caps on certain medicine or evaluate rate increases companies place on unchanged medications.
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