Sanders rejects latest EpiPen discount move as inadequate

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) is denouncing the maker of EpiPens for not going far enough in addressing complaints over its sharply rising price. 

{mosads}Mylan announced earlier Monday that it would offer a generic version of the treatment for serious allergic reactions at a cost of $300 for a pack of two, less than half the current cost. 

But Sanders said even that cost was still a dramatic increase in recent years, and “shameful.”

Mylan recently announced a generic version for $300. That’s still five times as expensive as it was in 2007: a 526% increase in total.

— Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) August 29, 2016

This type of greed is shameful, and if Mylan thinks the American people are going to accept this so-called “compromise,” they are mistaken.

— Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) August 29, 2016

Sanders has made fighting high drug prices a major issue, and his former rival for the Democratic presidential nomination, Hillary Clinton, has also called on Mylan to lower its price. 

Republicans have also expressed outrage at Mylan’s prices, but have pointed to faster approvals of generic competitors by the Food and Drug Administration as a potential solution. 

House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton (R-Mich.) wrote to the FDA asking about the review process for approving generic competitors.

Democrats, meanwhile, have called for ideas like allowing Medicare to negotiate drug prices.