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The rapid increase in the price of the EpiPen, a device used to give an injection that can save people from deadly allergic reactions, has shocked consumers and lawmakers. Yet it is just one more outrageous instance of pharmaceutical companies raising prices for lifesaving medicines with no justification other than the desire to increase profits — and doing so knowing that government can do little about it. (8/25)

In a statement, [Hillary Clinton] assailed the “outrageous” cost of EpiPen, an emergency treatment for allergic reactions known as anaphylaxis, and she demanded that drug maker Mylan “immediately reduce the price.” ... Competitors have been trying for years to challenge Mylan’s EpiPen franchise with low-cost alternatives—only to become entangled in the Food and Drug Administration’s regulatory afflatus. Approving a generic copy that is biologically equivalent to a branded drug is simple, but the FDA maintains no clear and consistent principles for generic drug-delivery devices like auto injectors or asthma inhalers. (8/24)

The company’s monopoly in no way justifies the skyrocketing increase. If anything, having exclusive access to a life-saving drug should impose a special responsibility to ensure that it is available at a reasonable price to all those who need it. The company says it has given away about 700,000 EpiPens to schools since 2013 and provides coupons to cover the cost of co-payments for most consumers with commercial insurance. It also blames the problems caused by high-deductible plans that put its product out of reach for many families. But none of that explains the stiff increase in costs to the consumer. (8/24)

In 2004 a pack of two EpiPens, life-saving products used to halt severe allergic reactions, cost $100. Now, two pens list for upwards of $600 — a 450 percent price increase for the same injector to deliver the same $1 dose of epinephrine it did 12 years ago. If you find this increase troubling, you are not alone. Earlier this week, Senator Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) sent a letter to the CEO of Mylan Laboratories, EpiPen’s manufacturer, asking for information on its pricing strategy. Today, Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) called Mylan’s pricing “outrageous” in a letter to the Federal Trade Commission.  (Paul Howard, 8/24)