Competition Great When Permitted
Aug 28, 2016
Mike Myer
Wheeling (WV) IntelligencerIf you like to hike, camp, fish or hunt in certain areas, you’d be well-advised to carry a snakebite kit. But how would you react if, upon going to the store for one, you found the simple equipment cost $150?
You’d shop elsewhere, in the knowledge competing companies would be offering the kits for much less.
That’s how free-market capitalism works.
So why do people with allergies so severe they must carry devices to inject themselves with epinephrine have to pay $608 for a two-pack of EpiPens from Mylan Pharmaceuticals? Did I mention the same two-pack cost $93.88 just nine years ago?
Mylan has been criticized roundly — and justly — for what it charges for the EpiPens.
Why do they charge so much? Because they can.
There is very little competition in selling such devices.
There is some. Just a few weeks ago, Consumer Reports informed readers about the Adrenaclick, similar to Mylan’s product, but available for as little as $140. It also is possible to buy your own epinephrine, your own plastic injection pen, and be safe for less than $200.
Other companies are interested in the business, too. But two of them reportedly can’t get the Food and Drug Administration to approve their products.
Ah, yes, the FDA — accused for years of throwing obstacles in the way of pharmaceuticals companies to the point that life-saving drugs have been kept off the market or made more expensive because of all the FDA hoops that have to be jumped through.
FDA bureaucrats are not the only villains. Let’s not forget the trial lawyers — you know, the folks whose commercials you see all the time on television — eager to collect eight-figure fees from lawsuits against pharmaceuticals companies and device manufacturers.
When it comes to life-saving health care technology, there is no free market protection in the United States.
So yes, the EpiPen story is outrageous. Mylan, which earned $1.2 billion in profits from the devices last year, ought to be raked over a bed of hot coals.
At the same time, however, let’s not forget those who aided and abetted the company — and let’s be glad they have nothing to do with snakebite kits.