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State Bill Allows Pharmacies To Distribute EpiPen Without A Prescription

motherjones.com

Adults routinely prescribed EpiPens for allergic reactions may soon find it's easier and cheaper to get one under  a bill state lawmakers are considering. Ohio Public Radio's Jo Ingles reports.

Republican representative Derek Merrin’s bill would give pharmacists the ability to dispense epinephrine auto injectors to patients without a doctor’s prescription.

What this would allow the pharmacists ability to do is really prevent adults from having to go into the doctor’s office every single year to get a prescription, pay the co-pays when they’ve already been on an epinephrine auto injector, many of them since their childhood.”

EpiPens have skyrocketed to about $600 for a two-pack, and they need to be replaced regularly.  Merrin’s bill would also allow pharmacists to substitute a prescription written for an EpiPen with a less expensive auto injector, which is not currently classified as a generic for the brand name Epi-pen.

 

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