State Senator Chapin Rose, a Republican from Mahomet sponsored Senate Bill 3335 which was recently signed into law by Governor Rauner. The bill seeks to help local Emergency Medical Teams combat the skyrocketing costs of Epi-Pens, an auto-dispensing device for the allergy fighting medication Epinephrine. Senator Rose said that a local rural fire department informed him that they were spending over $2,000 a year on the Epi-Pens, where if there were to be allowed to simply buy Epinephrine and inject it with a syringe, there would be a huge cost savings.

Senator Rose said that when you add up the savings throughout all of the departments in the state that can now switch to a cheaper way of dispensing Epinephrine, you get a very large figure.

Senator Rose also said the skyrocketing costs of Epi-Pens is largely due to the fact that the company that makes them now has a monopoly on the technology. Many rely on the drug to potentially save their lives should they suffer from anaphylaxic shock, which means they don’t have a choice but to buy the medication, no matter what the cost is.