Epipen Price Hike Sparks Outrage Over Healthcare System and Pharma Companies

FEATURING ROBERT WEISSMAN – Outrage over the price of Epipen injectors has sparked national attention from the media and even from Presidential nominee Hillary Clinton. The epinephrine injections are widely used in emergencies to treat life-threatening anaphylaxis of the sort that children with peanut allergies get. Consumers have been shocked at the whopping $600 price tag for the Epipen. In 2009 the same medication cost about $100.

Mylan, the company that bought the rights to manufacture the medication, has justified the price hike and cited its donations of Epipens to schools. But Mylan executives have seen their pay increase even faster than the price of the life-saving injections.

Many see the Epipen price hike as illustrative of the deep flaws in the US healthcare system and deregulation of pharmaceutical companies.

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Robert Weissman, a public interest advocate and activist and the President of Public Citizen.