What are the adverse effects of producing generic drugs to curb the price rise of brand drugs? Mylan was the first

Source: medical geography on September 1, 2016, mylan Pharmaceutical (mylan) was pushed to the center of public opinion due to the 500% price increase of its adrenaline pen Epipen in the past seven years Epipen, used to treat anaphylactic shock, is an essential medicine box for families in Europe and America Since 2009, the price of Epipen has increased from less than $100 in two bottles to $608 (equivalent to RMB 4050) in May this year Nearly five times of the price increase has made the American people shout that they can't afford ordinary medicine At the same time, the share price of mylan pharmaceutical fell Double the drug price according to a previous survey report, in 2001, the initial price of Epipen (two packs) was only US $75.8, and then increased by about 3% - 4% every year After being purchased by mylan in 2008, the prices in 2008 and 2009 rose by 5% and 20% respectively, and then increased eight times in four years, all at 10% In November 2013, the price of Epipen increased by 15% again Until May this year, the price of Epipen was adjusted by 15% five times Not only has the price of Epipen skyrocketed, but the price of other products of mylan has also skyrocketed in recent years Some experts pointed out that 31 products of mylan have different price increases, of which 7 products have a price increase of more than 100% and 24 products have a price increase of more than 20% The biggest increase was ursodiol (54.2%), metoclopramide (44.4%) and dicycline (400%) In an interview with CNBC, Heather bresch, mylan's chief executive, said that there were many sales links in the company's Epipen, resulting in a huge difference between the factory price and the actual price of the product But people don't buy into that The rising CEO's salary, along with the rising drug price, is one of the factors that cause patients' dissatisfaction with the rising price event, as well as the rising salary of Meilan CEO Heather bresch in recent years According to fiercepharma, Heather bresch ranks sixth in the salary of CEO of global pharmaceutical companies (2015) with an annual salary of US $25.82 million (RMB 172 million) It is said that since taking office in 2012, Heather bresch's salary has increased from $2.453 million to $1.893 million, or 671% The corresponding is the rising drug prices since she took office Before the less competitive market, Epipen's biggest competitor was the adrenaline injection auvi-q of Sanofi In 2012, auvi-q, an adrenaline injection developed by Sanofi, was approved by the FDA for emergency treatment in the event of fatal allergic reactions in people with a history of allergies It is also the first compressed adrenaline automatic syringe, with its own voice guidance function, which can guide every step of the injection procedure of patients The launch of auvi-q challenges Epipen's market share for 25 years Auvi-q is popular with patients as soon as it comes into the market due to its own voice function and safer retraction of the needle The market position of Epipen in the past 25 years has been strongly shaken However, at the end of October 2015, Sanofi announced a recall of all products in the U.S and Canada markets due to insufficient dose of syringes to prevent more serious health and safety problems The position of "the biggest in the Jianghu" of adrenaline syringe was in danger Because of the mistake of competitors, Epipen took a breath Just a month after auvi-q exited the market, Meilan raised the price of Epipen again Using generic drugs to save people's grievances, the rising price makes Meilan earn a lot of money with one Epipen, but it has caused waves of resentment of the American people Although there is no regulatory regulation to control the price adjustment of mylan's drugs, the media's increasing attention in recent years has really put pressure on mylan So recently, in order to quell the price increase, mylan announced on August 29 that it would produce the generic drugs of Epipen, which have the same functions and ingredients, and the price of generic drugs would be reduced to half of the original brand drugs It is also the first time that pharmaceutical companies have made generic drugs of their own brand to ease the market resistance caused by the high price of brand drugs At the same time, Meilan also said that the price increase is more used for medical sales, commercial insurance, supply chain and other links of expenditure Mylan said in a new generic product description that the company has been working to help patients pay $0 for Epipen syringes with commercial insurance In fact, in 2015, 80% of patients did enjoy such benefits Due to the change of the medical insurance environment, the patient's medical health insurance and payment standards have changed, which leads to the improvement of the part of the medical expenses paid by the patient As a result, the Epipen generic, which costs 50% of the brand drug, was launched for $300 to ease patients' concerns about high drug costs However, this time, mylan's behavior can only be called "mending the past" Now mylan is in a similar crisis with Turing pharmaceuticals "When it comes to human health, pharmaceutical companies should realize that it's not just about earnings, it's about human health," wrote one columnist Once again, the social responsibility of pharmaceutical enterprises has been questioned by the society