A Message from AAFA’s CEO About the Cost of Epinephrine Auto-Injectors

The recent surge of media coverage about rising medication costs has shed important light on the challenges of access and affordability that AAFA has championed time and again. It has also reinforced that – for millions of American families – access to medication such as the epinephrine auto-injector can be a life-and-death matter. I’m writing to you today to assure you that we hear your concerns, we feel your anxiety and frustration, and we’re actively working on it.

As the largest and oldest support community for people with asthma and allergies, AAFA (and our food allergy division, KFA) has worked tirelessly to address the issues of access and affordability.  We’ve done so by talking directly with manufacturers, but also through our efforts to collaborate with government entities, health insurance companies – and families like yours.

We will continue to advocate aggressively on behalf of our community to ensure that life-saving medications are available – and that, for families and individuals in need of critical medications like the epinephrine auto-injector, access is a right and not a privilege. It’s why we’ve helped successfully advance efforts to stock epinephrine in schools and public places.  And it’s why we continue to work—every day—to make epinephrine more available, to more Americans who need it.

As an advocacy organization guided by a multi-stakeholder Board, whose mission is to serve people with asthma and allergic disease, AAFA will continue to be a trusted source for content you can rely on – to help you manage the issues in your lives, from planning meals to securing medication and so much more.    

AAFA’s voice is a prominent one in the asthma and allergy community. And as you already know, your voice is our voice. So, while we work to find solutions to this crisis, we hope you’ll continue to lend your voice to the issue as well. We invite you to share your stories on our community forums  and blog. We also encourage you to read our tips on what to do if you can’t afford epinephrine. 

We will keep you posted on our continuing efforts to ensure access to auto-injectable epinephrine. Thank you for your time, and please know that AAFA is committed to being your trusted resource for allergy and asthma education, advocacy and research.

Warm regards,

Cary Sennett, MD, PhD
President & CEO, AAFA