EDITORIAL: Drug wars

The Democrats, and specifically presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, have found what they believe to be a new target-rich health care issue: the EpiPen. The product, from drug maker Mylan and primarily used by children, is an emergency treatment for anaphylactic shock, an allergic reaction to food or insect stings that can prove deadly.

The cost of the EpiPen has skyrocketed over the past eight years, from about $100 for a two-pack in 2008 to $500 or more now. Last week, Mrs. Clinton joined in on what a Wall Street Journal editorial termed “the latest political pile-on over alleged pharmaceutical price gouging.” Calling the actions of Mylan “outrageous,” Mrs. Clinton said, “It’s just the latest troubling example of a company taking advantage of its consumers.”

She went on to demand that Mylan, whose CEO is the daughter of Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia,“immediately reduce the price.”

If Mrs. Clinton wants to point fingers, then she should place the blame where it belongs — on the federal government. Thanks to the foot-dragging (and perhaps monopoly-protecting) Food and Drug Administration, the EpiPen has no generic alternative, despite being on the market since the 1970s.

As the Journal pointed out: The “EpiPen should be open to generic competition, which cuts prices dramatically for most other old medicines. Competitors have been trying for years to challenge Mylan’s EpiPen franchise with low-cost alternatives — only to become entangled in the Food and Drug Administration’s regulatory afflatus.”

One such application was rejected earlier this year; another EpiPen rival product was withdrawn last year; and in June, a third company was asked to expand patient trials and reliability studies.

As if the Affordable Care Act hasn’t proven this already, lower prices will come only through market competition. The company has responded to the deluge of criticism by increasing discounts. But misguided calls for heavy-handed price controls won’t solve the bigger issues, which include the government’s many barriers to bringing generic products — produced here or abroad — to the Amercian market.