Jennifer DiMercurio’s 7-year-old son, Liam, relies on the EpiPen, an auto injector used to treat anaphylactic shock, to save his life in the case of a severe allergic reaction. The device delivers a dose of epinephrine that’s worth about $1. But over the past nine years, Mylan, the pharmaceutical company which makes the EpiPen, has increased the price of the patented injecting device from $100 to $600.
That increase put the DiMercurios in a bind. In January 2015, DiMercurio’s husband started a new job that didn’t include health insurance. The family turned to the private market, where they found a plan that would cover Liam and Jennifer, who had developed a Latex allergy ? but it had a hefty deductible. So on two occasions, after using up their stash to save each others’ lives, the family had to borrow funds from relatives to replace their EpiPens.
This summer, DiMercurio’s husband started a new job ? one that came with good health insurance. But the family couldn’t afford to buy the year’s EpiPens until the new insurance kicked in.
So for four months, they had to rely on expired models.
“I was scared to take my son out, especially as summer was coming ? even at the grocery store I’d be more worried and more on alert because I’ll be afraid,” DiMercurio said. “Especially having to use them myself I’ve seen now how important it is to use it quickly and how fast it happens, and you don’t know if your pen is going to work because it’s expired.”
Presidential candidates, politicians and the press have spent the past week slamming Mylan for the price increases. Since no rival generic products have Food and Drug Administration approval, Mylan has an almost complete monopoly. Mylan’s CEO Heather Bresch, who is the daughter of Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), announced Thursday that the company would not cut the price of the injectors, but would increase the maximum it would offer to families in its copay assistance program from $100 to $300.
Parents of children with life-threatening allergies are still worried.
“So many of us are wondering if we’re going to be able to pay our mortgage if we pay for the pens,” DiMercurio said. “It’s bad enough when kids’ lives are lost just because they didn’t use an EpiPen quickly enough, but to not have it for a financial reason is despicable. It’s all we have and Mylan monopolized the market.”
FINANCIAL SACRIFICE
Aleasa Word, a working single mom in Atlanta, started saving last September to buy enough EpiPens for her two kids with food allergies to make it through the school year. The packs expire, so they need to be replaced each year, even if they aren’t used. Even with her insurance, a two-pack of EpiPens (they’re only sold in sets of two) costs her about $600, and she needs four packs to cover both her children ? one for each of them to carry, and one for each of them to have at school.
That comes out to a total of $2,400.
“I am willing to sacrifice whatever I need to sacrifice to get my children their medication,” Word said. “EpiPen is not optional in my house. I can’t not have it.”
Joy Velozo, a mother from Massachusetts, said she worries about the impact the price increase has on families that can no longer afford them. Her son, who will be 12 at the end of the month, is allergic to all nuts, eggs and shellfish. He has been home-schooled since last year in part because his local school would not guarantee that he would not be exposed to allergens in the upper classes, where students switch desks and classrooms throughout the day.
“I can’t imagine having to pay full price to have four sets of EpiPens to know he was covered in every situation,” she said.
Julianne DeNicola’s 7-year-old son, Joseph, died after he came into contact with pizza oil that had touched cheese ? enough to set off his extreme dairy allergy. Although his father administered an EpiPen shortly after his reaction, Joseph didn’t get the drug fast enough.