WHEELING, W.Va. — As controversy swirls over price hikes for Mylan’s EpiPens, generic epinephrine auto-injectors offer a less-costly alternative but require training to administer the drug properly.
Each device provides an emergency injection of epinephrine, a medicine used for life-threatening allergic reactions. Mylan has responded to the criticism by announcing plans to release a generic version of the device in the coming weeks.
Dr. Clark Milton, director of medical education of the osteopathic family medicine program at Wheeling Hospital, said EpiPens are among the most popular delivery systems for epinephrine, which has been used to treat allergic reactions since the early 1900s.
Milton said the drug is already available generically in a version called Adrenaclick and as an epinephrine auto-injector.
“They are a little bit more complicated…