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History
- Referred to rules
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Sponsor's memo
Title of bill
An act to amend the education law, in relation to the substitution of brand name epinephrine autoinjectors with generic epinephrine autoinjectors for dispensation by pharmacists
Purpose
To ensure affordable access to epinephrine.
Summary of provisions
Section one adds a new subdivision (3) to Education Law § 6816-a to authorize a pharmacists to substitute any generic epinephrine auto-injector when a brand epinephrine auto-injector has been prescribed. The prescriber maintains ability to prohibit such substitution.
Section two provides that the act take effect immediately.
Justification
The unconscionable price increases of EpiPens by Mylan Pharmaceutical have made life saving epinephrine unaffordable for many families. Mylan has continuously raised the price of EpiPens, with last year's increase of 75% bringing the cost to over $600. Mylan has recently announced they will authorize a generic version of the EpiPen for $300, which is still more than three times the price of the EpiPen when they acquired the product in 2007.
The exorbitant rates that Mylan is charging hits all consumers. For those in need of the life saving medication, even if they have insurance coverage, depending on their deductible, they may have to pay the entire cost out-of-pocket, many others encounter much larger co-pays. Families need to have multiple EpiPens so they are available at home, school, daycare, when traveling. Insurance many not cover multiple packages. Given EpiPens expire annually, this becomes a yearly family cost. Given EpiPens are not a luxury, as a necessity families are forced to figure out a way to bare these costs. Even consumers who do not need epinephrine get hit with this cost through increased insurance premiums and taxpayers dollars spent on EpiPens by EMTs and though the state Medicaid program.
There are cheaper epinephrine auto-injector alternatives to EpiPens. For example, Impax Laboratories makes a generic Adrenaclick which can be purchased at for as low as $140 if you use a free coupon found on GoodRx. Both products, EpiPens and Adrenaclick, are auto-injector syringes filled with epinephrine. The difference in the products is in the injector itself. Adrenaclick has two caps, while EpiPen has one. Due to this difference in injector technology, the products are technically two different drugs and a pharmacists cannot substitute one for another.
While New York generic substitution law requires pharmacists to dispense a lower cost generic for a brand prescription unless the prescriber writes "dispense as written," since there is technically no generic version of the EpiPen, the pharmacist could not substitute generic Adrenaclick if the prescriber issued a prescription specifically for an EpiPen. However, if the prescriber were to issue the prescription for an epinephrine auto-injector, the pharmacist could dispense the less expensive generic version.
Since Mylan has poured billions of dollars into making EpiPen a household name, it has almost become synonymous with epinephrine auto-injector. As a result, most prescribers issue prescriptions specifically for EpiPens. They aren't aware of a reason to write epinephrine auto-injector instead, and families aren't aware to ask for such. This legislation, which will allow a pharmacist to dispense a generic epinephrine auto-injector under an EpiPen prescription, is necessary to remedy this. Under this legislation, a family can request and a pharmacist can dispense the less expensive generic version without having to request a new prescription from the prescriber. New York would be joining more than a dozen states that allow for this substitution. We cannot let such a technicality come between New Yorkers and affordable access to this life saving medication.
Legislative history
New bill.
Fiscal implications
None.
Effective date
Immediately.
Summaries, headlines and scores are AI-generated from the official bill text. How we score bills. Source: NYS Open Legislation.