Teva Pharmaceuticals has finally launched its generic version of Mylan’s EpiPen.  The Petah, Tikvah, Israel-based company’s emergency allergy shot will be priced at $300 – the same as Mylan’s generic. Teva received approval for its version of EpiPen in August.

The generic will be available in limited supply and the company will launch a lower-dose - the EpiPen Jr. sometime next year, the company said.

“We’re pleased to provide access to Epinephrine Injection (Auto-Injector) for patients who may experience life-threatening allergic emergencies and we’re fully dedicated toward ensuring additional supply in 2019,” Brendan O’Grady, EVP and Head of North America Commercial at Teva Pharmaceutical, said in a release.

Epinephrine Injection (Auto-Injector) is a prescription medicine in a disposable, pre-filled automatic injection device (auto-injector) used to treat life-threatening, allergic emergencies including anaphylaxis in people who are at risk for or have a history of serious allergic emergencies. Each device contains a single dose of epinephrine.

Why this News is Significant

Teva launching its generic takes some of the pressure off since Mylan’s product had a shortage earlier this year.

Back in May, Mylan said it had alerted FDA that there could be trouble in getting the EpiPen prescriptions filled after manufacturing problems with its partner Pfizer, constrained supply. There were also shortages in Canada and Britain that were reported in April, according to a Reuters article. The shortage in the U.S. caused FDA to extend the expiration dates of certain lots of the allergy drug-device combo by four months.