In 2007, EpiPens cost about fifty bucks apiece. Then drug company giant Mylan bought the rights. Now they go for more than $600 a pair. They do not cost more because they work better. They cost more because Mylan spent millions on lobbying and marketing to create demand, eliminate competition and obtain a monopoly position with a lifesaving drug. When they were ready, Mylan held the Epi-Pen like a gun to the heads of American children, and asked “well, what’s she worth to you?”

Because Americans love their children, the money came rolling in. A product that used to make $200 million a year now makes billions. It accounts for 40 percent of Mylan’s profit. The money comes from people who can ill afford to pay so much for about one dollar’s worth of actual medicine, but the lethality of their children’s allergies leaves them no choice.