Who can forget the screaming from the media when Mylan Labs raised the price of a two pack EpiPen to around $600? The anguish was enough to tempt a person to invest in funeral homes.
But the free market actually does work. And while the heavily regulated pharmaceutical industry isn't really a symbol of free markets, in this case a generic version of the EpiPen had already been approved. It took the big Mylan price hike to unleash it. According to USAToday, CVS targets EpiPen with cheaper, generic version:
CVS Health Thursday that it would start selling the generic version of a competitor to pharmaceutical giant Mylan's EpiPen, an injection for people having severe allergy reactions. The move comes amid public consternation over multiple price increases that left the brand-name allergic-reaction treatment EpiPen with a list price of more than $600, up from about $100 in 2009.
CVS says the generic based off Impax Laboratories’ Adrenaclick treatment will sell for $109.99 per two-pack before potential discounts, or about one-third the initial $300 list price of the generic version of the EpiPen that Mylan announced after criticism about pricing.
If you bought stock in funeral homes, hold on, there will be other scares. There always are.
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