Mylan N.V.(NASDAQ:MYL) has announced that under its EpiPen4Schools initiative more than one million epinephrine auto-injectors have been donated. The pharmaceutical giant also added that data that had been presented to the ACAAI – American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology during this year’s Annual Scientific Meeting had demonstrated that the donations had a positive impact and there was need to keep the program going in schools in the United States. This is the fifth year since the EpiPen4Schools program was launched.
According to Mylan the epinephrine auto-injectors which the EpiPen4Schools program has offered have been used over 2,000 times in schools since 2014 for the treatment of anaphylaxis – an allergic reaction which is life-threatening. The allergic reaction can occur within a short time and without warning. In the past decade the number of cases of severe allergic reactions from food has increased by close to five times.
Anaphylaxis event
An independent study which was recently carried out revealed that about a third of the patients had not carried their medication when anaphylaxis attacks occurred. This demonstrated the need for continued education and awareness.
“…we have used the stock epinephrine auto-injectors provided through the program four times during this school year alone. Some of those being treated had never been previously diagnosed with a potentially life-threatening allergy,” said the Health Services Facilitator at Forsyth County Schools, Connie Trent.
Since the program was launched five years ago, over 73,000 schools have taken part in the program. This is about 54% of the schools in the United States.
Food trigger
During the ACAAI meeting the research director at the Institute for Asthma & Allergy, Martha White, said that a nationwide survey conducted showed that over 8,000 schools reported over 1,500 cases of anaphylaxis. In 83% of the cases an epinephrine auto-injector was used and the likelihood of the device being EpiPen was close to 60%.
Most of the attacks occurred among students and the most affected age group were the high school students. The most common trigger in these events was food.
On Friday shares of Mylan fell by 0.57% to close the day at $38.35.