Food allergy parents & patients… Brace yourself, then watch this:
Dey Pharma (Mylan) must have handed full control over to their ad company, & not approved (or even watched) the commercial. That’s the only scenario I can possibly accept. They certainly could not have come up with this… could they?

Is it loaded? - Food Allergy Cartoon (Another great one from Tiffany!)
They didn’t notice that it contradicts their own patient information not to mention common sense?
If they did run it knowingly, I’m going to talk to my doctor about switching brands to TwinJect unless they issue some sort of retraction or apology.
It is wholly irresponsible to convey the EpiPen as a fail safe live-saving device allowing you to disregard caution and eat foods with unknown ingredients. To clear it up for the non-educated (and Dey Pharma/Mylan):
- Epinephrine does not work every time.
- Epinephrine buys you time until the ambulance can arrive or until you can get to hospital for proper medical treatment.
- Epinephrine is not a “cure” for knowingly eating your allergen or cross contamination.
The worst part is it’s already difficult enough to convey the severity of food allergies to people who aren’t afflicted… and to impress the very rules above in addition to why you can’t “just try a little” or how scary cross contamination can be.
This commercial is ignorant, and it spreads ignorance.
Get informed here:
- New EpiPen Ad is Dangerous for Food Allergy Families (alwayssick.com)
- So irritated about EpiPen commercial..have you seen it? (peanutallergy.com)
- Important Information RE: EpiPen®/Dey Pharma/Mylan (causes.com)
- Is it loaded? – Food Allergy Cartoon (http://foodallergyfun.blogspot.com)
Let Dey know (& let Mylan know) how upset you are!
Thanks for reading, now pass it on! Share, tweet, post to Facebook, pin, tumblr, press, blog, +1, and do whatever you do!

EpiPens are portable epinephrine-dispensing devices which can be used to alleviate the symptoms of severe, acute allergies. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
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Awesome wrap up of this crazy commercial situation!! thanks for including my cartoon 🙂
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Your cartoon is awesome! Ha ha. I can’t get my head around how this got by. It’s beyond ridiculous.
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FAI and FAAN are going to be meeting with Mylan tomorrow I have been told. Mylan had better make this right or I think a lot of people will consider switching brands of injectable epinephrine. It feels like such a betrayal. PS – Food allergy dads should brace themselves too… my husband was devastated by this commercial as well.
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This is true… I was being a little sexist… I interact with the FoodAllergyMomArmy a lot on Twitter. Ha ha.
I’m upset, and I’m a patient myself. No kids!
FAI and FAAN are involved? I look for a quick resolution then!
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When I saw the commercial I thought that I must have heard it wrong or misunderstood. How did they miss this huge mistake?? I can just see family members saying “But he has his epi pen. Give him a little…? GGGRRR….
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Yeah, the concept is ridiculous in general, then the source being who it is? I can’t take it.
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I agree w/ Tiffany — this is a great wrap-up on the situation. Eric, I love that you used Tiffany’s cartoon. I’m looking forward to hearing more about the meeting between FAI, FAAN & Mylan.
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Tiffany’s cartoons are in my rss reader, so I see (& enjoy!) every one. They’re great reminders that even though we feel like we’re alone, we’re not.
Thanks for taking the time to comment, glad you enjoyed the wrap-up!
I’m also really interested to see what happens after the meeting today. Will there be apologies? Will faces be red? Will heads roll? Will nothing change?
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Our allergist, who is on the FAAN medical board said he heard the ad was being pulled: “I just heard from the FAAN office and they said that Mylan will be pulling the commercial on EPI-PEN today… Apparently, they are going to extensively modify the commercial and said that FAAN may review the content before launching again later this summer. This will be a good thing!!! You can pass this information along…” Dr. John James”
I also read some of the transcripts from their investor call earlier this year; it looks like we will be seeing a lot more advertisements. They believe the market for auto injectors is very underdeveloped. They even think new competition won’t hurt them, since it will just grow the overall market, and they have such a huge market share.
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Excellent, thanks for the info!
Can’t wait to see a modified more responsible commercial.
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So, Mylan released a statement. Here it is from The Allergist Mom’s Facebook page:
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Also related: http://www.examiner.com/article/dey-mylan-s-commerical-is-potential-manslaughter
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So happy they did the right thing! Thanks for bringing attention to this as well! (and for changing it to “parents” 🙂 Have a good weekend!
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Me too, it’s a relief! Thanks for taking the time to comment, and have a great weekend yourself!
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Wow, the FDA put the smack down: FDA Sends Warning Letter to Pfizer Over EpiPen Ads
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