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Any epi-pen users here? What are you doing now that epi-pens are expensive??!?

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Has anyone researched to see when their patent expires? This scenario replays itself out time and time again in the pharmaceutical industry until the patent expires and generic makers can copy the product.
 
Puffnstuff said:
Has anyone researched to see when their patent expires? This scenario replays itself out time and time again in the pharmaceutical industry until the patent expires and generic makers can copy the product.
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patent is on the injection mechanism, adrenaline is generic drug.
 
if the patent is on the injection mechanism, i'm surprised other companies haven't made something yet (well there's at least one competitor). i take a self-administered injection every 2 weeks, and unless abbievie licensed the tech from mylan for a shitton of money, i have to imagine their engineers were smart enough to come up with some spring loaded injection mechanism.
 
Patents cover the method of delivery so it cannot be copied until the patent expires giving the holder exclusive rights to it unless they license another company to use it.
 
John Connor said:
Problem lies with this asinine government namely the FDA that doesn't allow other companies to make a competitor. One company was shut down and the other couldn't make it or some damn thing.

The FDA has time and time again stifled free enterprise in the pharmaceutical industry.

The EPA, DOJ, IRS, FCC, FDA. They're all fuck-ups!
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I'd say the biggest issues is IP laws, in this case, patents. Patents need to last 1 year MAX. The whole idea that the law states that there can only be one of anything is completely retarded and anti competition. If it was legal for others to compete there would be like 20 different options and they'd all be affordable.

What sucks is the TPP is only going to make this WORSE. We can get away with cheaper medicine here in Canada because of slightly more lax IP laws and also regulations to avoid price gauging but with TPP all that is going to be out the window, and everybody will have to abide by the US system.
 
Is there any reason no one makes a semi manual injector? My daughter uses insulin that's most of the way to an epipen®. Attach the needle cartridge, dial an insulin amount on the other end, inject and press. It could be simplified to an already attached needle, and a dial you crank til it stops for the correct amount.

Sounds like a business opportunity to me, and fucking the maker of epipen® makes it taste even better.
 
Would probably infringe on their patent, sadly. If not, they'd just patent it, and then it would infringe. Though as far as I know manual injection is allowed, since they patented the Epipen itself and not the medicine. So it may just be the thing of educating kids how to do it manually, heck they could tech stuff like this as part of a basic lesson in school. That way everyone should know how to do it to themselves or someone else. Nothing like screwing a greedy corporation through simple education.
 
lxskllr said:
Is there any reason no one makes a semi manual injector? My daughter uses insulin that's most of the way to an epipen®. Attach the needle cartridge, dial an insulin amount on the other end, inject and press. It could be simplified to an already attached needle, and a dial you crank til it stops for the correct amount.

Sounds like a business opportunity to me, and fucking the maker of epipen® makes it taste even better.
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It's an emergency injector. More likely than not, the person activating it will not have a clear head and lots of time to use it. Plus the auto injector is simple enough that a lot of people can use it without training, which is all the more handy in an emergency situation where they may be administering first aid.
 
Looking quickly on Wikipedia shows prior art. Insulin pens were made in 1985, so out of patent protection, and the epipen® goes back to the 70s, from a design for the military for nerve gas antidote. It would be interesting to see exactly what the patent is. Patents are given away like mardi gras beads. Seems like there's zero review in the patent office. Invalid patents abound, and if you can't afford lawyers like a major company can, you can't fight it. Even if you choose to fight it, lawyers can run down the clock by tying things up in court, so even when you win, you lose.
 
It seems like there are already a few "almost-generic" versions available but they aren't drop-in replacements so folks just have to ask their doctors to write prescriptions for those versions instead of the EpiPen.
 
ViRGE said:
It's an emergency injector. More likely than not, the person activating it will not have a clear head and lots of time to use it. Plus the auto injector is simple enough that a lot of people can use it without training, which is all the more handy in an emergency situation where they may be administering first aid.
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Pop the cap, twist the top, and stick. It can hardly be easier. Easier in fact than a gluagon pen which is arguably used for more serious conditions than anaphylactic shock, since the patient usually can't do it themselves, and they have to rely on someone else who is most likely untrained.
 
Ya a one year patent. Sure that makes sense. You'd invest hundreds of millions of dollars in development cost for a one year patent on a medical device that might not ever make it to market. Lucky those patents are not treated like a Disney copyright. What's that 100 years or is it unlimited?
 
I'm a strong believer in free-market capitalism, but I can actually understand profit caps for patents. Businesses should be allowed to recoup for R&D and FDA-approval, but I don't see any purpose in fixed-year patents granting monopolies when technology routinely advances multiple times over during the same time period.
 
Considering the cost of the Epi pens and fact that they'll only go up, even here in Canada, once the TPP passes, I think it's just the thing of educating people how to do it manually. Make it like CPR where it's just one of those things that gets thought to everyone. The issue with stuff like Epipen is they can argue to the consumer "how much do you value life?" and charge basically anything they want, but people have to fight this. If it means it won't be as easy to get the medication, but you don't need to take a second mortgage, then maybe it's worth it.
 
Red Squirrel said:
Considering the cost of the Epi pens and fact that they'll only go up, even here in Canada, once the TPP passes, I think it's just the thing of educating people how to do it manually. Make it like CPR where it's just one of those things that gets thought to everyone. The issue with stuff like Epipen is they can argue to the consumer "how much do you value life?" and charge basically anything they want, but people have to fight this. If it means it won't be as easy to get the medication, but you don't need to take a second mortgage, then maybe it's worth it.
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Or people can just start buying the other versions like the Adrenaclick.

http://www.consumerreports.org/drugs/can-you-get-a-cheaper-epipen/
 
Red Squirrel said:
Assuming they don't get sued by Epipen, that is. The main problem is the fact that nobody is allowed to make a generic because of patents. If it was not for that they would not be so expensive in first place as there would be competition.
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They are different enough that they don't infringe on the patent so they're not going to get sued. (But also different enough that in some states, you can't fill a prescription for an Epipen with the generic.)

Epipen has name brand recognition so that's why they sell so well. The generics work fine but people just aren't aware of them.
 
stlc8tr said:
Epipen has name brand recognition so that's why they sell so well. The generics work fine but people just aren't aware of them.
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I had no idea Epipen was just adrenalin until this topic. Or that alternatives existed.

Full extent of knowledge on it would probably have been... "an injection people need to survive allergic reactions" Full stop.
 
Red Squirrel said:
I'd say the biggest issues is IP laws, in this case, patents. Patents need to last 1 year MAX. The whole idea that the law states that there can only be one of anything is completely retarded and anti competition. If it was legal for others to compete there would be like 20 different options and they'd all be affordable.

What sucks is the TPP is only going to make this WORSE. We can get away with cheaper medicine here in Canada because of slightly more lax IP laws and also regulations to avoid price gauging but with TPP all that is going to be out the window, and everybody will have to abide by the US system.
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Yeah, TPP is as worse if not worse than NAFTA. 😉 Well, coming from this an American. But our government agencies by a large margin have and always have had their heads up their ass and continue to screw over the people time and time again. I have signed so many petitions at change.org for the FDA to allow medicine to be used by dieing cancer patents. I mean FFS! They're dieing! Let them use the shit!
 
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