Along the way, EpiPen’s wholesale price rose roughly 400 percent from about $57 each when Mylan acquired the product. If the company raises the price too much, “that could create some backlash.” 
 
 The company sees it differently. She said the company doesn’t control final retail prices for EpiPen and offers coupons that eliminate co-pays for most patients. Connecticut Senator Richard Bluemnthal, who pushed for emergency epinephrine to be stocked in public schools, pledged Friday to investigate the "shocking increase." CEO Bresch Photographer: Chris Goodney/Bloomberg 
 
 In 2010 new federal guidelines said patients who had severe allergic reactions should be prescribed two epinephrine doses, and soon after Mylan stopped selling single pens in favor of twin-packs. An EpiPen is never far away in the Henegar household where dinner time is a cautious time. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration had changed label rules to allow the devices to be marketed to anyone at risk, rather than only those who’d already had an anaphylaxis reaction. It has spent tens of millions of dollars on TV ads and donated the device to schools across the U.S., ensuring it was a familiar product. Because of aggressive marketing and branding campaigns, and lobbying for legislation that requires the product to be stocked in schools, they have a brand dominance equal to that of Kleenex, doctors say. And he understands better than most what costs are involved: For the past few years he's been developing his own, smaller version of the EpiPen, and trying to get it approved by the FDA and bring it to market. Predicted Bresch in August: “You would not see the traditional market loss because of just the brand equity with EpiPen.” 
 
 The bottom line: When Mylan bought EpiPen in 2007, the devices had $200 million in annual sales.
– It's the size of a marker and as common as Band-Aids in a school nurse's office. EpiPen, a device that delivers a dose of epinephrine that can stop an extreme allergic reaction, has been credited with saving the lives of children for whom a peanut or a bee sting could be fatal. But drugmaker Mylan has hiked the price of the device by nearly 500% over the past few years, CBS News reports, and parents and doctors aren't happy. "When epinephrine only costs a few cents, but they're going up to $500, personally I don't think that's ethically responsible," allergy specialist Dr. Douglas McMahon told NBC News. “Patients are calling and saying they can't afford it.” (McMahon is seeking FDA approval for his own device that he says will cost $50.) Twice in her seven years, Ellie Henegar’s life was saved with an EpiPen, but her parents were stunned last year when the bill came to $600, they told CBS. Compare that to 2009, when the bill was about $100 for the same two-pack of EpiPen. While insurance covers varying degrees of the cost, not everyone is lucky enough to have a plan that does, NBC notes. With a near monopoly, Mylan has little incentive to cut the price, Bloomberg reports. In fact, Mylan execs considered dumping the aging product in 2007. Instead, they launched a marketing campaign that turned the device into an essential, donating EpiPens to schools and dropping $35 million on TV ads. A law passed by Congress in 2013 requiring schools to stock epinephrine devices also boosted sales, which last year totaled $1 billion. Mylan contends it has made a "significant investment" to improve the device and offers coupons. "It's a totally established brand name with little competition," Bloomberg’s Robert Langreth tells CBS. "That gives them freedom to raise the price every year."