Mylan plans generic EpiPen to quell outcry over $600 cost

PARIS: Mylan NV, under fire for pricing its EpiPen emergency allergy shots at $600, will introduce a generic version in coming weeks that will halve the price.

The drugmaker is making a second move in less than a week in response to intensifying criticism, after its offer of assistance programs to help patients cover out-of-pocket expenses was blasted as a mere press-relations fix by several US lawmakers.

The generic EpiPen will be identical to the branded product, including device functionality and drug formulation, and cost $300 per twopack carton, Mylan said in a statement on Monday. The company also plans to continue to sell the branded version.

Mylan has attracted scrutiny for increasing the treatment’s price 400% in nine years — EpiPen cost $57 for a single pen when the drugmaker bought it in 2007.

Although Chief Executive Officer Heather Bresch, the daughter of Democratic Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia, was quick to react to the mounting political scrutiny last week, her plan to offer savings cards left members of the Congress and health insurers unimpressed. EpiPen’s price also become campaign fodder: Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, who called the price increases outrageous last Wednesday, said offering discounts with cutting the overall price was insufficient