While EpiPen prescriptions are still increasing, Mylan's share of the epinephrine auto-injector market fell for the first time in three years, according to research from athenahealth.
The analysis is based on prescription data from more than 1,100 providers in the athenahealth network who wrote more than 78,000 EpiPen prescriptions to more than 48,000 patients since 2013.
Here are four things to know.
- Providers wrote 14 percent more EpiPen prescriptions this year than in 2015.
- Despite this growth, EpiPen's portion of epinephrine auto-injector prescriptions dropped from about 96 percent in August 2016 to 92 percent in September 2016, marking the first decrease in the device's prescription share since 2013.
- While alternative epinephrine auto-injectors only make up 5 percent of the market, prescriptions for the devices increased 26 percent this year compared to last year.
- Jing Luo, MD, an internist at Brigham and Women's University and researcher at Harvard Medical school, both in Boston, cites Adrenaclick — the only EpiPen competitor available on the market — as a possible source for this year's increase in prescriptions of alternative epinephrine auto-injectors.
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