Drs. Alpern and Stauffer Pen an Editorial on EpiPen Prices

Will a new generic version of the EpiPen lower costs? Not necessarily, according to Drs. Jonathan Alpern and William Stauffer, both with the Department of Medicine. In their article Does a generic EpiPen mean lower prices? Don’t hold your breath, published on STAT, they argue that prices won't begin to fall until more manufacturers join the market. 

"At least two generic manufacturers are needed before significant cost savings occur, with incremental price decreases following the entry of each subsequent generic," they write. 

They go on to show how other generic versions of name brand medications fail to substantially lower the costs of the drug when there is little competition.