(KAIR)--As the high price of the EpiPen continues to dominate national discussion, including calls for Congressional investigations, local medical experts are weighing in on the importance of seeing the life-saving drug delivery device become affordable for those in need. It's used when someone with an extreme allergy goes into anaphylactic shock, which cuts off their breathing and threatens their life.

The controversy began when the pharmaceutical company Mylan increased the price by 400%. The company is the only one to manufacture the precise device, which Atchison Dr. John Eplee, MD, calls the “gold standard.” “You do have a choice between the generic and the branded only,” Eplee tells MSC News. “I will say that, for me, with my grandson, I wanted branded only because of quality assurance.”

Atchison Hospital Head Pharmacist Sarah Noll agrees, but says that while the generic version is not the same, it is available, and costs half the price. “There's a generic that is made, a lot of people don't know that, it's about half the price. An EpiPen costs maybe $600-plus if you're paying cash. You do get the double pack. The generic also comes in a double pack and is about $300. It comes with an auto injector, but it's not made by Mylan. It's not ab rated, which means it's not equivalent, so if a doctor writes for an EpiPen, the pharmacist has to fill it as an EpiPen, so a lot of providers don't know to write epinephrine pen and then they can get the generic. Saves them $300.”

Both Noll and Eplee say the key to the issue is making the EpiPen affordable again, and place the blame of the high cost squarely on the manufacturer. “It's just a terrible thing that the companies are putting this unethical pricing on these emergency medications,” Noll says. “This is a classic example of a monopoly,” Eplee adds. “We see this happen in other types of medications. Not medications, necessarily, that are so heroic and life-saving, but I see this all the time in some medications that are commonly prescribed, where a branded maker will take over the entire generic market and then raise the price significantly in the interest of their stockholders and profits. It's wrong.”

Noll says she has a hard time believing the statements made so far from Mylan's CEO regarding the EpiPen manufacturing costs, with the drug itself costing only around $1.00 per dose.

Congressional leaders this week have been seeking answers on the issue, and the New York Attorney General has launched an investigation into allegations that Mylan's contracts with schools may play a role in the issue. According to Fortune.com, the investigation is focusing on the pharmaceutical company's EpiPen4Schools program.

That allowed school districts to gain free Epipens, but contractually barred them from the ability to buy from Mylan's competitors for one year.