As EpiPen Prices Skyrocket, Nurses Suggesting Patients Use Syringes

[DoGoodThenGo]

Media and now Congress has finally latched onto something many in healthcare have known for quite sometime; EpiPen prices have skyrocketed to $600 from $100 over the past eight years. Families/persons who need these autoinjectors are quite angry because not all can afford the increased rates and worry about being priced out of having access to life saving medication.

According to news reports some nurses and other healthcare professionals are advising patients and or their parents/caregivers to use syringes to inject epinephrine instead. One horrified mother interviewed for local evening news was literally near tears saying she "never could do that" when advised by a nurse who was part of her daughter's medical team. Many EMS personnel have long gone back to syringes as a cost saving measure with the prices of EpiPens putting a strain on budgets.

[dishes, BSN, RN]

Canada has not seen the price hikes that US has and some Americans are ordering epipens online from Canada for $110 per pen.

[DoGoodThenGo]

Canada has not seen the price hikes that US has and some Americans are ordering epipens online from Canada for $110 per pen.

Again which proves the benefits of having government negotiate prices for drugs. Almost every other industrialized western nation does so except the United States. Here we are left largely to be fed to the wolves in the name of free market.

[KatieMI, BSN, MSN, RN]

There are Canadian online pharmacies and generic AdrenalClick for $100- 140. Although I totally agree that people in Mylan Pharma lost their last shreds of shame long ago but looks like this time they have to come back to harsh reality.

I would be more concerned about dosing if using syringe and needle. Adrenaline standard amp used for code is 1 mg, which is 3.3 doses for standard Epipen. That's a lot of adrenaline, and this drug, while very effective, is not exactly "safe" one. Personally, I would prefer it this way as long as I draw med myself or by EMT staffer. Epipen is excruciatingly painful shot.

[iluvivt, BSN, RN]

A great article Business News - Los Angeles Times

[iluvivt, BSN, RN]

I need to fix that link.It was an article in the LA Times about how the FDA can fix the problem.

[NurseGirl525, ASN, RN]

I tried to suggest in a mommy blog drawing it up, to a very negative response.

Heres the thing, even if you aren't comfortable drawing, learn. People need to hit Mylan in their wallet. Something nobody is willing to do.

Bit?$#*! On the Internet does nothing. Taking actual action and hitting them where it hurts, does. This would force them to lower prices and make the convenient pen affordable. After all, what did people do before the pen??? Lol. Draw it up.

I won't even go into why people are so resistant to this idea. After all, I'm sure C thousands, if not millions were saved by drawing up meds. But the unwillingness to even think outside of the box bewilders me.

[NurseGirl525, ASN, RN]

I need to fix that link.It was an article in the LA Times about how the FDA can fix the problem.

The FDA will not fix this problem. The public needs to fix it, and sadly won't.

[blondy2061h, MSN, RN]

Adrenaclick is available in the US for around $100, too. Your doctor just needs to prescribe that one instead of "epipen." I think suggesting people try and draw up 0.3 mg of epinephrine in a syringe from a 1mg vial with almost no practice while in distress due to an emergency is asking for trouble.

[BrendanO, MSN, RN]

Adrenaclick is available in the US for around $100, too. Your doctor just needs to prescribe that one instead of "epipen." I think suggesting people try and draw up 0.3 mg of epinephrine in a syringe from a 1mg vial with almost no practice while in distress due to an emergency is asking for trouble.

I've seen complaints about Adrenaclick because it leaves the needle exposed after injection. Seems like a minor concern given the context of the use of the device, but still, it's a concern.

If they went with the vial/syringe route, couldn't people draw up the correct dosage ahead of time and just carry a loaded syringe around with them in a pen case or something? They could make a new one every week, if contamination was a concern, and still come out way ahead in terms of cost.

[KatieMI, BSN, MSN, RN]

I've seen complaints about Adrenaclick because it leaves the needle exposed after injection. Seems like a minor concern given the context of the use of the device, but still, it's a concern.

If they went with the vial/syringe route, couldn't people draw up the correct dosage ahead of time and just carry a loaded syringe around with them in a pen case or something? They could make a new one every week, if contamination was a concern, and still come out way ahead in terms of cost.

I wouldn't be as much worried for contamination (after all, injectors are designed to shoot a quite a large needle through the clothes and non-cleaned skin, and possible minor infection is the last concern in case of full-blown anaphylaxis) as about chemical stability of the drug if adrenaline is drawn from the amp and kept in standard syringe. And it would be VERY inconvenient to carry usual type of loaded syringe around. Minimal pressure on plunger, and the thing will leak. Especially if you need to carry two of them as a bare minimum, and preferably four.

AdrenalClick leaves the needle exposed, that's the truth, but the needle can be immediately and conveniently bended against any hard surface available nearby, after what the empty cartridge can be safely thrown into trash.

The problem is, people who relay that much on what is, basically, a piece of plastic with a spring and a needle, develop habits and attachments. It may be kind of difficult to change them, especially after it worked a few times and patient/family developed some sort of routine.

[Tenebrae, BSN, RN]

Liz Butler - We stock this generic epinephrine pen in our... | Facebook