Photo: AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli
TORONTO – The skyrocketing price for the rescue medication carried by people at risk for potentially life-threatening anaphylaxis has created a furor in the U.S., but there?s no need for Canadians who use the device to panic, says the head of Food Allergy Canada.
?The regulatory pricing system here is different than in the U.S., and so we have not seen huge increases for the device year over year,? Laurie Harada, the organization?s executive director, said of the EpiPen.
In the U.S., the EpiPen is sold by pharmaceutical company Mylan, which incrementally hiked its price more than 500 per cent over the last nine years, pushing its list price for a two-syringe pack from US$94 to more than US$600. Canadians pay around C$120 for a single auto-injector, with the price varying somewhat, depending on an individual pharmacy?s dispensing fee, Harada said Thursday. EpiPen in Canada is distributed by Pfizer, which licenses the injectable epinephrine from Mylan. A rival anaphylaxis rescue medication, sold as Allerject in Canada, was pulled from the market last year because of the potential for inaccurate dosing.
Anaphylaxis is a severe reaction, which can occur in response to toxins from insect bites or from eating foods like peanuts, fish, eggs or milk in people with allergies to those substances. ?The most severe response is when somebody?s airways are swelling and they?re closing,? said Harada. ?They?re going to lose the abil...