Interesting People mailing list archives

Re EpiPen outrage: Silicon Valley engineers figure real cost to make lifesaving auto-injector two-pack - about $8

From: "Dave Farber" <farber () gmail com>
Date: Sat, 1 Oct 2016 19:47:11 -0400




Begin forwarded message:

From: Sidney Karin <skarin () ucsd edu>
Date: October 1, 2016 at 7:39:46 PM EDT
To: "dave () farber net" <dave () farber net>
Subject: Re: [IP] EpiPen outrage: Silicon Valley engineers figure real cost to make lifesaving auto-injector two-pack 
- about $8

Dave,

For IP if you like.

Cute.  What about the cost of getting (ongoing) FDA approval for 
sterile medical device manufacturing? Packaging that preserves
sterility?   Product liability insurance for something that you stick into 
humans?  NRE?  Etc. etc.   

I don’t know what the total cost of an Epipen is or should be,
but I do know that the Silicon Valley tech industry  and the medical
care industry have a number of significant differences.  Theranos
comes to mind.

Cheers,

……..Sid

On Oct 1, 2016, at 2:24 PM, Dave Farber <farber () gmail com> wrote:




Begin forwarded message:

From: Hendricks Dewayne <dewayne () warpspeed com>
Date: October 1, 2016 at 1:11:47 PM EDT
To: Multiple recipients of Dewayne-Net <dewayne-net () warpspeed com>
Subject: [Dewayne-Net] EpiPen outrage: Silicon Valley engineers figure real cost to make lifesaving auto-injector 
two-pack - about $8
Reply-To: dewayne-net () warpspeed com

[Note:  This item comes from friend Ed DeWath.  DLH]

EpiPen outrage: Silicon Valley engineers figure real cost to make lifesaving auto-injector two-pack — about $8
By TRACY SEIPEL
Oct 1 2016
<http://www.mercurynews.com/2016/10/01/epipen-outrage-silicon-valley-engineers-figure-true-cost-to-make-lifesaving-auto-injector-about-10/>

In his 93 years, Bob Wallace has seen some product-pricing doozies over the decades, but the nonstop national furor 
over the stratospheric price hikes for EpiPens — now retailing above $700 for a two-pack — was the final shot.

“I’m a cheapskate,” the Saratoga inventor and businessman proudly proclaimed. “And this is not rocket science. 
People should be aware of what they’re getting hooked for.”

So in time-honored Silicon Valley tradition — and piqued by the EpiPen-maker Mylan’s corporate tagline “Seeing Is 
Believing” — Wallace and Roland Krevitt, a veteran Scotts Valley manufacturing and tooling consultant, set out to 
demystify the cost to produce the EpiPen, piece by piece.

The auto-injector delivers a lifesaving dose of adrenaline to treat serious allergic reactions to everything from 
bee stings to food.

Hunched over his vintage Shopsmith table saw in his garage, Wallace sliced open the plastic injector to begin 
reverse-engineering the device. Then it was Krevitt’s turn to break out his gram scale and caliper to crunch the 
costs for molding and manufacturing the nozzle, needle, syringe, springs, safety cap — and 0.3 mg of epinephrine.

Their startling estimate of the cost for a two-pack of EpiPens: $8.02.

And that even included the bright-yellow box.

“Talk about sleight of hand,” said Krevitt, who isn’t naive to R&D, marketing, distribution and other costs that go 
into brand name pharmaceuticals — but is still floored by what he figures is a 90-plus-fold markup over the retail 
price. “These guys put a magician to shame.”

From Capitol Hill to the corner drug store, the pharmaceutical giant Mylan is the latest drugmaker to withstand a 
public lashing over skyrocketing drug prices. While politicians and patients demand explanations, pointing out the 
same drugs are sold for a fraction of the price in other countries, policy experts and drug makers blame an 
American health care system built on an ever-expanding pool of middlemen whose piece of the action is driving up 
the final bill.

Since Mylan bought the EpiPen in 2007, the device’s wholesale price has soared from $100 to more than $600 for a 
now-standard two-pack.

The retail price is even steeper — the list price at CVS pharmacy, for example, is $733. Mylan insists most 
patients pay less than $50 out of pocket for a two-pack, though critics say insurers pass the higher wholesale drug 
costs along to consumers in other ways.

But what does it really cost to make?

[snip]

Dewayne-Net RSS Feed: <http://dewaynenet.wordpress.com/feed/>


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++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
     Sidney Karin Ph.D., P.E.                  skarin () ucsd edu
                                                              858-534-5075
     Professor Emeritus,
     Department of Computer Science and Engineering
     Director Emeritus,
     San Diego Supercomputer Center
     University of California, San Diego 
     9500 Gilman Drive  
     La Jolla,  CA  92093-0505




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Re EpiPen outrage: Silicon Valley engineers figure real cost to make lifesaving auto-injector two-pack - about $8 Dave Farber (Oct 01)
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  - Re EpiPen outrage: Silicon Valley engineers figure real cost to make lifesaving auto-injector two-pack - about $8 Dave Farber (Oct 01)