Black market deals on EpiPens can be dangerous

NEW YORK (FOX 5 NEWS) - Look online and you might see an EpiPen twin pack on sale for $350 or two out of the packaging and up for grabs at $99. Prices that sound good to any allergy sufferer desperate to save some money but doctors everywhere are warning consumers who are trying to buy their EpiPens online.

Not only is selling drugs without a prescription illegal and against eBay policy, Dr. Doris Day says it's just plain dangerous. She says you can't be sure what you are getting. It could be expired. It could be a different drug or something fake.

But where does that leave moms like Lindsey Yost? She lives in Washington with her young son Carson, who has a peanut allergy. Yost paid $500 for his EpiPens. And she knows plenty of other families who've done the same.

While federal lawmakers are calling for answers on why the wholesale price of the EpiPen has shot up by nearly 500 percent in less than a decade, dr. Day says there are options for the cash-strapped. She says the drug makers have programs for patients who can't afford the meds.

While the price hike has been drastic in the United States, a lot of consumers have turned to Canada where the cost of an EpiPen is about a third of what it is here.