The Food and Drug Administration has approved Symjepi, an epinephrine auto-injection similar to the EpiPen. Symjepi has been approved for the emergency treatment of allergic reactions, including anaphylaxis. It is made by Adamis Pharmaceuticals.
Symjepi comes as two pre-filled single-dose syringes of epinephrine. Adamis says that Symjepi is aimed at being a lower-cost alternative to the EpiPen from Mylan. The company is currently working to find a marketing partner and will launch the product later this year.
Symjepi joins others to rival Mylan’s EpiPen.
The Adamis product will likely be marketed at a price below Mylan’s $300 generic offering. It will join Impax Laboratories’ Adrenaclick device, sold at CVS pharmacies, and Kaleo’s Auvi-Q. Adrenaclick is currently the lowest-cost option on the market for epinephrine autoinjectors and Auvi-Q is currently the most expensive.
The number of prescriptions for epinephrine has grown annually and Adamis estimates that the products were a $1 billion market in 2016. It’s estimated that about eight percent of children in the U.S. have a food allergy and about 38 percent of those children have a history of severe reactions.