My brother and I were just talking in the kitchen on a school night while he was eating some oatmeal. He was a little bit sick at the time, but I didn’t think anything of it. He suddenly coughed a bunch and I really just thought, “Ew, I don’t want to get sick.” A couple minutes later, I started to feel my throat and lips swell. I asked my dad for some Benadryl without hurrying because I didn’t think it was an actual allergic reaction. I hadn’t eaten anything recently so I couldn’t understand why it felt like that. The reaction continued to a point where I could barely breathe. My dad finally said that he would have to use the epipen, and even though I hated it, I knew that it had to be done. He used the epipen and it saved my life. Because of the rising prices of epipens, many people will be hesitant to buy a sufficient number of Epipens. Only having a few Epipens can lead to not having an epipen readily available when you so desperately need one.  If I was unable to access an epipen, I literally would have died. This is the unfortunate reality for many families. The price of epipens has risen dramatically over the years and that is immoral because the drug has not changed chemically.

Epipens are now being sold for up to seven hundred dollars for a two pack, rising from a low ninety-four dollars over the course of 14 years. Epipens work to prevent suffocation by reducing swelling of the airway. It also increases blood pressure and heart rate in someone experiencing anaphylactic shock. Companies that sell epipens are for profit, so they will raise the price as much as the market calls for. Since epipens are a lifesaving drug, people who need them will do anything to get their hands on them. People will often need more than one epipen with them at once or have epipens kept in multiple places. For example, I keep an epipen in my backpack, in my soccer bag, two in my house, and two at school. Epipens expire within eighteen months, but a lot of the time, they are not sold for several months. With such a high price and short expiration date, many people are hesitant to buy a sufficient number of lifesaving epipens. 

Multiple companies have attempted to create a generic version of the epipen, but the FDA, also known as the Food and Drug Administration, often has a long waiting list to approve drugs and according to the AMN healthcare education services, “...production of generic EpiPen is complicated by the difficulty in replicating the administration technique of the correct dose via the auto-injector system” Many generic versions have been recalled by the FDA because of incorrect dosings and epipens being notoriously complex to recreate. The FDA hopes to make it easier for companies to create generic versions of all drugs so that they can become more accessible. Even if the FDA is able to do this, many epipen users or guardians with children who are epipen users will be hesitant to buy a generic version. They do not want to take shortcuts on their well-being, so they think the more expensive it is, the better it is. This is untrue, but purchasing generic versions can present problems. For example, one popular generic epipen, adrenaclick, has a different design than the brand name epipen, which can be confusing when the user desperately needs an epipen. I always had name brand epipens, so when they came out with a popular generic version in 2018, we got it. When I had a reaction and the most easily accessible epipen was a generic, my mom couldn’t open the epipen and panicked. She had to find the easy to open brand name epipen because she couldn’t open the other one in a moment of panic. The lesson I’m trying to get at is that we need to spend time either getting to know these lifesaving products, or to protest the exorbitant price of epipens. When I was too little to understand how to use an epipen, my mom had to train my teachers how to use epipens. The goal was to be as comfortable with them as possible, and this is a goal we should seek out as well. Being comfortable when you are calm will make it easier to use an epipen without hesitation or struggle when it is needed.

Epipens will not be made easily accessible to everyone anytime soon. In a time of panic, you need to be confident in yourself and your medicine. The goal from this oration is to encourage spreading awareness and protesting against drug companies that jack up prices. If people organize protests drug companies will take notice. We need to change the market and demand that drug companies lower the prices of these life saving drugs.