A number of Juneau parents are worried about the price of EpiPens, according to Auke Bay and Glacier Valley Elementary School Nurse Luann Powers.
Most allergic reactions can be treated with Benadryl, but if there’s a life-threatening reaction, known as anaphylaxis, it usually sets in within two hours, she said.
“It can start with simple hives and then there can be problems with your respiration because it can cause swelling inside of the breathing tubes,” Powers said. “It can cause vomiting — severe vomiting because the gut is responding.”
That’s why it’s important for adults in charge of an allergic child to know how to recognize and respond to shock, she said.
“As soon as you give an EpiPen, you need to call 911 or have somebody calling 911 when the occurrence is happening,” Powers said. “That child will need to be seen at the emergency room following an EpiPen.”
Mylan, the pharmaceutical company that makes the EpiPen, said in a news release last week that it plans to offer a more affordable a generic version of EpiPens.
Mylan said the generic’s list price would be about $300. That’s less than half the EpiPen’s current list price, the release said.
The company expected to launch the generic in several weeks.
“I think it’s great if we can have generics. I think that will reduce the cost,” Powers said. “Although, I did query over at Costco this weekend to see what the difference in cost was and it’s not really that much.”
Juneau’s Costco pharmacy said before insurance, its current EpiPen alternative costs customers about $512. The price for a two pack of name brand EpiPens is about $680.
Those prices change drastically between pharmacies.
Juneau Drug Company only carries an EpiPen alternative for about $497.
At Ron’s Apothecary Shoppe, an alternative sells for $538 and the brand name costs $695.
Powers said the medicine generally expires after one year, so parents have to keep buying more.
She said she has 12 students with allergies who have EpiPens at Auke Bay Elementary. There are a few more who don’t have EpiPens but still have allergies.
“That number for me has gone up tremendously,” Powers said. “I’ve been a school nurse for 13 years and when I first started I only had a few kids, just at this school.”
She said the number of kids with allergies is going up around the district.
She said each school does keep a stock of EpiPens, provided for free by Mylan; but only a nurse, a health assistant or a teacher trained to give the injection can use them.
