MARY CLARE JALONICK, Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — Lawmakers are demanding more information on why the price for lifesaving EpiPens has skyrocketed.
EpiPens are used to ward off potentially fatal allergic reactions, and the price has surged in recent years. A two-dose package cost less than $60 nine years ago. The cost is now closer to $400.
Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, wrote Mylan, the company that manufactures the devices, and asked for more information on why the prices have increased. He cited the cost to parents whose children need them and also to schools that keep the EpiPens on hand. The school costs are passed on to taxpayers, he said.
Rep. Grace Meng, D-N.Y., on Tuesday asked the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee to hold a hearing on the issue. She is a co-chair of the Congressional Kids Safety Caucus.
“Thousands of Americans rely on EpiPens in a given year, and perhaps no time is more important in the purchasing of these devices than the beginning of a new school year,” she wrote in a letter to committee chairman Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah.
A two-dose package has been selling for more than $365 recently, according to data from Elsevier Clinical Solutions’ Gold Standard Drug Database.
