Just bought an EpiPen, for anaphylaxis (serious allergic reactions to things like bee-stings). It cost $190 and contained 0.6mg of DL-Adrenaline (Epinephrine); and that was after a big “discount” from an internet coupon (typically $275). Contrast that with the retail cost in a research chemical catalog, where you get a gram of the same adrenaline for $22. Now do the math. And it’s worse than that: a quantity of 25 grams is only $120. Unless I’m miss-figuring, that’s on the level of a 100,000 percent profit margin for the EpiPen company. IOW, the real value of the contents of a prescription for an EpiPen is about one tenth of a cent. And it’s worse than that, since you have to assume that the company gets their material MUCH cheaper than any catalog retail price. Mind you that this is something every household should have in its medicine cabinet. There is no way to know when someone will have an anaphylactic attack; it could happen with ANY new drug/food/substance – AND the speed at which the fatal symptoms progress is as faster than the most poisonous snake bite (you can choke to death in about 15 minutes). You can thank your sacred government regulation for causing this lovely situation, even though most will be quick to misplace blame on free market capitalism. Sadly, that’s the main reason the situation continues.
Posted on: Sat, 07 Sep 2013 02:16:47 +0000