For people with severe allergy , having an EpiPen on mitt could imply the difference between life and last . But that safety profit number at a eminent Mary Leontyne Price : In the past decennary , the cost of the mark - name drug has risen by more than 400 per centum , with a solidifying of two pens trade for $ 600 . Now , CNBCreports that patients can ultimately get the treatment they need for a more reasonable amount of Johnny Cash : TheFDAhas approved a generic variation of Mylan ’s EpiPen , making it the first verbatim generic competitor to the brand - name medication .
Teva Pharmaceutical ’s interlingual rendition of both the EpiPen and EpiPen Jr. will work like the originals , with an injector delivering epinephrine , a chemical substance that start the airway , into the bloodstream of someone suffering an hypersensitized chemical reaction . Similar generic wine have been made commercially useable in the yesteryear : In 2016 , Mylan put in a cheaper version of its own product at $ 300 for a two - pack , and in 2017CVSstarted selling an EpiPen alternative for $ 110 . Teva ’s drug is different , though . It ’s a verbatim generic copy of the EpiPen , which means pharmacists will be free to extend it to patient who have been dictate Mylan ’s product . A toll has n’t been announce , but Teva ’s EpiPen could end up being significantly sleazy than Mylan ’s generic EpiPen , which could in turn bring down prices of the injector drug across the card .
The exorbitant price of the EpiPen has hit patient role hard in recent years . Some EMTs have even started loading epinephrine intosyringesmanually rather than paying for the drug - injector combo . Though the drug itself is n’t protected by a letters patent , the design of the EpiPen machine is hard for competing pharmaceutic companies to replicate , which has allowed Mylan to charge whatever it can for the product .
In 2017 , the FDA pick off its guidelines to make it easier for generic EpiPen competitors to receive market approval , even if the design of the fresh injector differed slightly from the master copy . With the approving of Teva ’s auto - injector made official , more EpiPen generics could before long start appearing behind pharmacy counters .
[ h / tCNBC ]
