On Sunday, August 28, 2016 at 7:33:15 AM UTC-5, Keyser Soze wrote:
On 8/27/16 9:52 PM, Tim wrote:
Actually I hope this inspires competition.



Ahhh...that old American dream...the "free market" and "competition."

One of my neighbors is diabetic and earlier this week when the Epipen
scandal broke, he mentioned that two insulin products he has used,
Novolog something or other and Humalog something or other, from two
competing manufacturers, had "list prices" of around $1100 for a one
month supply. He pays less because of his insurance, but he still pays a
lot. No competition in price. It's the American way for many products.
Competition is not the answer.

I doubt the Epipens cost more than $2 or $3 to manufacture, including
the drug and the injector. I read a report that in Canada, a Canadian in
need of an Epipen pays about $12.

This is a classic result of a monopoly, which in this case exists because the FDA(government) has blocked every attempt by other companies to produce a generic Epi-Pen! I wonder if it could have something to do with the CEO's father being a US Senator (a Democrat who undoubtedly hates big corporations!).....nah, just a coincidence, especially since CNBC also reported Mylan paid over $400 million to Teva (the generic producer of the drug) to keep it off the market for a set period of time to allow them this to reap in billions. Patents have expired for this drug and the US government (i.e. taxpayers=all of us) paid for the patent on the delivery system (the pen) in the 1960s.