Back in August, Mylan--amid a firestorm over price hikes on its star med EpiPen--promised to roll out a lower-priced version of the product “in several weeks.”
But that was 5 weeks ago already, and patients may still have many more to wait, according to spokeswoman Nina Devlin, who told Bloomberg the cheaper version would be available “by the end of the year.”
“We expect to launch this year once we have assured that sufficient inventory will be available to meet anticipated orders, created the necessary packaging for the product, and created the necessary labeling for the product,” she told the news service. “We are diligently working to complete these efforts in order to provide the generic as soon as possible.”
The hold-up isn’t likely to appease the critics that have been slamming Mylan since the EpiPen pricing scandal blew up in August. Despite the company’s promise of an authorized generic--with a two-pack costing just $300, less than half of the branded med’s current sticker price--Mylan has remained in the negative spotlight. Lawmakers and the public alike have continued to take the drugmaker to task for its pricing, and they’ve also demanded explanations for its CEO’s high salary, its rebate payments and more.
Meanwhile, though, Mylan isn’t the only company working on bringing a generic to market. Both Kaléo Pharma--the Richmond, VA-based maker of former EpiPen competitor Auvi-Q--and Imprimis Pharmaceuticals, the compounding pharmacy that came up with a low-cost version of Martin-Shkreli-hiked Daraprim--are on the job, too.
Right now, of course, there’s no generic available--a fact that allowed Mylan to raise the price of EpiPen by more than 400% since 2009. Teva, for one, recently received a rejection from the FDA for its knockoff, with regulators citing “certain major deficiencies."
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