When a company is making abnormally large profits from a product or service for an abnormally long period of time, 99 out of 100 times the reason is the government. From Alice Salles at theantimedia.org:
(ANTIMEDIA) The EpiPen is a useful device for individuals who suffer from severe allergies. So when news broke that Mylan, the sole maker of the autoinjector “pens” in America, had hiked the prices of its products from $57 each in 2007 to $600 for a package of two in 2016, news outlets had a field day.
Promptly after, politicians seized the opportunity to bank on this crisis by promising to “do something.”
Presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton urged Mylan to voluntarily slash the prices of its products while promising that, once she’s elected, her “plan to address exorbitant drug price hikes like these” will be finally implemented. This is a particularly empty promise considering Mylan has donated between $100,000 and $250,000 to the Clinton Foundation, which was recently revealed to be peddling influence in exchange for cash.
Senators Susan Collins (R-ME) and Claire McCaskill (D-MO) are also pressuring the manufacturer to disclose more about its pricing. Even Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV) — whose own daughter, Heather Bresch, serves as Mylan’s CEO — weighed in, claiming he, too, shares his colleagues’ “concerns about the skyrocketing prices of prescription drugs.”
But none of what these politicians are saying rings true to anyone who’s paying attention. Here’s why.
The Monopolistic Origins of the EpiPen
The autoinjector known as the EpiPen provides injections of epinephrine in cases of serious or even life-threatening allergy attacks. It is derived from another product known as the Mark I NAAK ComboPen, a device created for a monopoly: the U.S. military.
The device was designed by Sheldon Kaplan for Survival Technology, Inc., a company with a long history of working with the Pentagon. Once the ComboPen was created, it was sent to the U.S. military to treat soldiers who had been exposed to nerve agents.
In 2007, Mylan “purchased the generic drugs division of Germany’s Merck KGaA for $6.7 billion,” acquiring the EpiPen brand of autoinjectors. Under Merck, the devices cost $7 each, which resulted in just $200 million in gains each year, a mere 5 percent of Merck’s revenue at the time.
But Bresch saw potential in this simple plastic device and focused on how to make the newly purchased brand something that could be widely used. For her dream to come true, she needed the assistance of experts in the monopoly business. That’s when she turned to the U.S. government for help.
The FDA, Washington, and Crony Capitalism Are All to Blame
Though the EpiPen is not covered by patent protection, Bresch’s close relationship with Washington may have helped her company ensure competition wasn’t an issue.
To continue reading: The EpiPen Scandal Is Worse Than You Think: What You’re Not Being Told
STRAIGHT LINE LOGIC 
I just got my yearly 2 Epi-pens last week.
Retail price was $729.00.
When I first became allergic to bee stings in 2003,because I dugup a nest that was wider than the bucket on a Cat skid steer while excavating for a stamped concrete patio I could buy 2 from a local drugstore for under $50.00. I had no insurance so had to pay cash.
Last week,my co pay was more than $50.00.
It’s due to greed-nothing more,nothing less.
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