Mylan N. V is a pharmaceutical company that is the only manufacturer of FDA-approved safe epinephrine automatic injection pens (EpiPens) in the nation. From 2009 to 2016, the price of two of their EpiPens increased from just over $100 to over $600, and the price continues to remain just over $600 today. As a monopoly without any federal regulation and with a product relied on by over 3.6 million people, Mylan could raise its price by any amount it sees fit and still have thousands of shoppers purchasing their product. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essayMylan is behaving in a socially irresponsible and frankly inhumane manner by taking advantage of this fact and participating in an obvious case of price gouging. Those in lower economic standing are now forced to choose between sacrificing a significant portion of their earnings or risking the possibility of having an allergic reaction that could end their lives. It is the right of every individual, regardless of their economic situation, to have easy access to products that could potentially save their lives. No individual, let alone corporations, has the right to knowingly alter someone's life chances. Mylan and MonopolyMylan are taking advantage of their monopolistic position in the market and exploiting their customers through price gouging. Looking at the history of Mylan and its competitors, the company has never had more than one significant competitor in the United States during its lifetime. A competitor known as Sanofi emerged in the late 2000s, and it was hoped that the competition could serve as a preventative measure for future price increases. When Sanofi was forced to withdraw its product by the FDA in 2012, Mylan, counterintuitive to usual market behavior, significantly increased its prices. In subsequent years Sanofi brought another EpiPen-like product to market called “Auvi-Q” to compete with Mylan, and this was also withdrawn in October 2015. Teva Pharmaceuticals has been involved in the production of a prototype in recent years , but continues to face delays due to the FDA. A current competitor is a company known as Adrenaclick. This company offers a significantly cheaper pen selling for $142 at select Walmart locations. However, the product is "rarely recommended by major medical societies as its two caps that must be removed (unlike the EpiPen's) are considered inconvenient." Adrenaclick has also sold $10 syringes at some CVS locations, but these are also discouraged by medical professionals due to possible complications resulting from the injection not being administered by trained professionals. As is quite obvious, the barriers to entry into this market are extremely high. The company and its team recognized this and the fact that the need for EpiPens is so desperate that they could exploit this need and make a larger profit through increasing prices. When there is only one manufacturer of a safe product that could save the life of your son, daughter, brother, sister, husband, wife, friend or your own life, you will do anything to get it. Vialet De Montbel is an example of an individual who relies heavily on Mylan EpiPens. He buys them to protect his son who is severely allergic to milk; so much so that he needs to wear a mask in public. She paid an exorbitant $1,212 for two packs of EpiPens, which she says is more than her mortgage. This kind ofspending for her, and for most people, is not sustainable. There is no argument against the idea that this is a specific case of price gouging. Mylan has tried to counter such accusations by adding a generic version of the product that costs half as much. This option is still three times more expensive than the price of the original product in 2009 and is still a high price. Mylan technically hasn't broken any laws and supposedly still provides free EpiPens to schools. However, there are still millions of people who rely on the immediate use of EpiPens. Economist John Maynard Keynes stated that “. . . even if these price increases were only short-term, some of these patients may even die in the short term. . . ”. Does the future look bright? No matter the backlash they receive, it appears that the Mylan team will continue to unethically exploit their customers as long as they remain in their current position. Mylan has no incentive to act socially responsible because it is not competing with anyone and there have been no significant consequences for its actions. This is where a call to action needs to be made. No company should have the right to sacrifice possible human lives for the sake of a greater profit. Federations need to start regulating monopolistic companies to prevent them from raising prices to astronomical amounts. The Mylan product in most cases represents the first attack against an allergic reaction, and depending on the severity of the allergy, it is the first and last. Some individuals suffer from allergies so extreme that they need an injection administered within one minute of the allergy attack. If they can't afford Mylan's product, there's a slim chance of survival. One change that could be implemented is a cap on profit margins. Another option would be to offer significantly higher discounts to disadvantaged people who need the product. They could also cap the price overall, offer one free pen per household, offer free pens to those in a lower economic position with extremely severe allergies, or provide measures to reduce barriers to entry into the market. A final idea would be to increase funding for the FDA. The FDA is severely underfunded, which is one reason why there are such high barriers to entry into this specific market and other pharmaceutical markets. If more competitors entered the market, the competition would theoretically drive prices down to something much more reasonable. There are many avenues the government could take to ease the pressure on those who need EpiPens. There needs to be repercussions for these price increases as many pharmaceutical companies are using Mylan as inspiration to increase prices for their products as well. Mylan's price increases have had both positive and negative effects for the company and, overall, have not had that many negative financial repercussions. effects as one might expect. Mylan's price hike was highlighted in August 2016, and an investigation into EpiPen pricing was conducted by the U.S. Subcommittee on Health Care, Benefits and Administrative Rules in September of that year. The hearing took place on September 21, 2016, and Mylan's CEO, Heather Bresch, testified against their significant price increases. Mylan”. . . agreed to pay $465 million to resolve Justice Department allegations that it falsely classified EpiPen to overcharge Medicaid.” Yet the company claimed it had done nothing wrong. In the two.