Skyrocketing prices for medications are back in the news this week, with the latest round of furor centered on a life-saving shot for people with severe allergies.
The cost for the Epipen, an injectable dose of epinephrine, has risen nearly 500 percent since 2008. A pack of two now rings up at more than $600.
EpiPens work in an emergency by temporarily thwarting the severe allergic reaction known as anaphylaxis, which can be triggered by bee stings, peanuts, and other allergens. Many people rely on Epipens to keep breathing long enough to get to a hospital.
With classes starting back up after the summer, the question becomes whether schools can continue to afford and stock Epipens.
EpiPen has a near monopoly on epinephrine delivered by auto injector, a spring-loaded syringe. There are several reasons for that. A major one is that the maker, Mylan, made the EpiPen ubiquitous in schools, both by marketing it directly to them and by lobbying lawmakers to increase its availability in classrooms.
EpiPen has such a hold on the market that a White House announcement about the federal law encouraging schools to stock epinephrine references it by name.
In Maine, schools aren’t required to stock epinephrine, but a 2014 law allows them to train unlicensed staff to administer auto injectors to kids with previously unknown allergies. School nurses stocked and administered epinephrine long before that, typically drawing it from a vial and injecting it with a syringe, said Nancy Dube, a school nurse consultant for the state.
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