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from the better-mousetrap-trapped-in-limbo dept.
AlterNet reports
The [EpiPen], which millions of Americans depend on, was invented in the 1970s by engineer Sheldon Kaplan[PDF], who died seven years ago in modest surroundings amid obscurity. But Kaplan's patent made its way into [the] Netherlands-based drug maker Mylan, which, since 2007, has jacked up the price of the spring-loaded injector from $57 a shot to $300.
[...] The high price [...] caught the attention of Dr. Douglas McMahon. The 38-year-old allergy specialist in St. Paul, Minnesota, has been thinking about how to improve on the EpiPen and to do so in a way that's affordable.
[...] McMahon saw that the EpiPen device was not only overpriced for what it does but also was too big to be easily carried in a pocket. For the past couple of years, he has been tinkering with injection-device components in his lab. And the result of his work is AllergyStop [1], an injection prototype that's small enough to fit on a key chain. McMahon claimed his device is as effective as the EpiPen and can be marketed and sold for about $50.
But, even though McMahon's device has been production-ready for the past two months, the steps he must take to get the device approved will cost him about $2 million and it will potentially take him years to go through all the hurdles required by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for possible approval of his invention.
[1] All content is behind scripts. archive.li will run those for you.
Previously:
EpiPen's Price Increased 400% since 2008
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 12 2016, @10:13AM
to get the device approved will cost him about $2 million
So? There are
millions of Americans
who
depend on
EpiPen.
Ask each of them to contribute $1 toward this worthy cause, see how they refuse, and then give up in disgust, because the people do not deserve to be helped.
(Score: 5, Informative) by Zinho on Monday September 12 2016, @11:38AM
RTFA. [allergystopnow.com] I know, that's an odd request around here.
The website is a frontend to the inventor's Indiegogo campaign, [indiegogo.com] where he's asking for donations of $50 to get a T-shirt reward or $250 for an injector capsule following FDA approval; as a result, the practical cost of one of these is currently $250 + a bunch of other people making donations to complete the campaign.
There are a few of head-scratchers for me on this:
* number of backers listed on the allergystop website is greater than those listed on Indiegogo; it appears that the inventor is running two parallel campaigns, one on his own website, and another on Indiegogo
* Numbers on the campaign are pretty low; 16 on the website, 8 on Indiegogo. The Indiegogo campaign appears to be running for at least 25 days now, and has ~ a month left. Needs more publicity, I guess.
* Average donations seem low, too. $75 on the website, $34 on Indiegogo. Most contributors are not committing to the "give me an injector" level.
* The Indiegogo campaign has a "flexible goal" of $200k, which is less than 1/5 the cited financial need. I'd guess that he has other funding sources lined up, but he doesn't mention them.
* This is presented as a replacement for Epipen, but isn't an autoinjector; it appears to be manual. At a guess, this gets them around the patents on autoinjectors to keep the price down.
All in all, I wish the campaign luck. I'm all for life-saving medicine being affordable and available when needed. I just hope that the price point doesn't rise too high from the need to pay advertisers to get the word out.
"Space Exploration is not endless circles in low earth orbit." -Buzz Aldrin
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 12 2016, @11:52AM
Numbers on the campaign are pretty low; 16 on the website, 8 on Indiegogo.
Millions, right? Is it millions?
You're just proving the assertion: people don't deserve a replacement for Epipen.