Epinephrine and Pharma Gouging

Everyone remembers how the EpiPen starting going up in price after a pharmaceutical company realized they could secretly do it.  Not until pressure and, more importantly, competition did it become more affordable.  Now other drugs that have been around for decades are starting to be bought up and the prices are becoming outlandish to buy them as well. Remember, these drugs are not even protected by patents anymore.

The newest travesty involves plain old epinephrine and it is explained here by a reader of this blog:

Just had to absord an 800% increase in the price of Lidocaine with eprinephrine. If I can find it I now pay $13 for a 20 ml bottle and last year I paid $4 for a 50 ml bottle!  This drug that has been available since the 1920s.

Also, there are no epinephrine ampules at $1 anymore. Here are the new prices:
  • Epinephrine (1:1,000) 1mg/ml 1mL 10/Amp (PF) (SF) at $235 per box 
  • Epinephrine HCl 0.1mg/mL 10mL 10/box
  • Syringe at $345 per pack or individually
  • Epinephrine HCl Injection 1mg/mL 30mL Vial each at $155 each

Please share this to get the word out in order to bring competition into the market and bring down prices like what happened with the EpiPen.

(get our free weekly newsletter. no spam. ever)