In Era Of Tight Medical Regulation, Should Patients Use Cheap Hacks For EpiPens?
Michael Laufer, a math professor at Menlo College in Atherton, Calif., figured out how to make a $35 auto-injector to mimic the EpiPen. But is it really safe to use?
KQED:
Was The EpiPen Hack Ethical?
Should we be free, as individuals, to make and take our own medicine at home? Who’s responsible if we get hurt or die? Do we have to right to do what we wish with our bodies in the interests of survival, healing and self-care? For years, such questions have been at the heart of public health debates over euthanasia – the right to die – and even drug addiction. They also lie at the center of the infamous Mylan EpiPen pricing scandal that began last fall when Heather Bresch, CEO OF Mylan, was hauled into Senate hearings to explain the company’s 548 percent price hike for a simple device that injects a lifesaving anti-allergy hormone, FDA-approved epinephrine — and her commensurate $18 million salary. (d'Adesky, 1/23)
In other pharmaceutical news —