Can We Get Rid Of EpiPen Price Gouges With Science? An Interview With Ajan Reginald

When I was little, I accidentally stepped on a bee hidden in some grass. My foot and leg immediately began to swell and my day out with a friend ended up in a rush to the emergency room. I was found to have a severe allergy to bee stings and was prescribed an Epipen, which I kept up to date until into my late teens. I have no idea if I'm still allergic, as I haven't been stung in at least 15 years, but it's always something I keep in the back of my mind as one of those things I should probably get checked out. Oh, and I should probably get another Epipen, just to be safe. It became one of those things I'd "get around to" doing, but never did. Lately this nonsense with price gouging made me wonder if there were alternatives. What if we could somehow cut out the middleman of pharmaceutical companies and instead look to something else for a solution? What about all of that crazy stem cell technology that's happening now, could that be the way out of this mess? It was a crazy idea, but I reached out to Ajan Reginald, a former dentist-turned-life-science-entrepreneur and founder of Celixir, which focuses on stem cell technology, about my hypothesis and hope for a solution to removing the worry of price increases on life-saving medicines. What's an "explain like I'm 5" way of looking at allergies? AR: "The body's defence system is the immune system which is made of immune cells. The immune system recognises safe substances and dangerous foreign objects. If something is recogn...
Source: Science - The Huffington Post - Category: Science Source Type: news