High Cost of EpiPens

Epi Vs Narcan

These past few weeks the high cost of Epinephrine (or EpiPens) has made the news.  It’s not that new.  In March a story came out in ModernHealthcare about the high cost of this life saving drug.  Around the same time I was working with teens who sat at my dining room table and we talked about patient safety and being an Involved and Informed patient.  A young man at 16 years old with nu allergies questioned why Narcan is free to the public and his EpiPen is so expensive. 

We know that many more people will die from drug overdose than allergies but isn’t that the system once again using “measurement” to decide who lives and who dies?  If I had serious allergies and in my financial situation I might be hoping that prayer could work just as well.

Then I realized that if the pharmaceutical companies make a lifesaving medication, people who die from overdosing can come back and buy more medications from the pharmaceutical companies – look who gets rich off this.

What we really need is to encourage Jiff and/or Skippy and/or Peter Pan to go into the business of making EpiPens so those people who are allergic to nuts can eat them.