An EpiPen Rival Is About to Return to the Shelves.
The EpiPen is about to get some more competition.
The makers of the Auvi-Q, an EpiPen alternative taken off the market last year, announced on Wednesday that they would bring it back in 2017. The move is certain to be welcomed by many patients and lawmakers, who have denounced the rising price of EpiPens and the lack of strong competition.
But whether the Auvi-Q’s return will do much to lower prices is far from clear, especially since it cost more than the EpiPen when it was on the market. And a generic version of the EpiPen, recently announced by the EpiPen’s manufacturer, Mylan, is expected to be available before the end of the year, which may further lower the price of similar products.
In an interview on Tuesday, Spencer Williamson, chief executive of Kaléo, which owns the rights to the Auvi-Q, said the company was working hard to ensure the product would be affordable. But he said the list price had not yet been determined. The Auvi-Q, like the EpiPen, is designed to inject an emergency dose of epinephrine in the event of a severe allergic reaction.
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/27/business/an-epipen-rival-is-about-to-return-to-the-shelves.html?
