After a week of thorough public shaming, it looks like Mylan is kind of, sort of, throwing in the towel. The EpiPen maker announced Monday that it will begin selling a new generic version of its device, which is used to stop potentially deadly allergic reactions, for about half the current list price.

Mylan has been lambasted recently for raising the EpiPen’s price to more than $600 for a two-pack, up from around $100 when it purchased the product in 2007. The new generic version will cost $300 and “be identical to the branded product, including device functionality and drug formulation,” according to the pharmaceutical maker, which said in a statement it “expects to launch the product in several weeks.” Mylan had previously tried to calm the controversy over its price hikes by offering low- and middle-income customers a $300 rebate coupon to cover the out-of-pocket cost of an EpiPen.

Three quick observations about this news:

1) The $300 list price is still, you know, a tad expensive, given that the device retailed for one-third as much less than a decade ago. Keep in mind: This is also a product that expires after about one year and customers are unlikely to actually use. It’s essentially an insurance policy buyers have to renew.

2) Offering a generic EpiPen is a vast improvement over a coupon, since it means insurers (or schools that weren’t receiving them for free) will also get a price break. Whatever insurers are paying for drugs eventually makes its way down to customers through premiums.

3) Releasing a generic EpiPen will probably be more profitable for Mylan than just cutting the price of the branded product outright. The New York Times explains it nicely:

Introducing a generic might have less effect on Mylan’s finances than simply cutting the price of the existing EpiPen. The term EpiPen is so familiar that many doctors write prescriptions for it rather than for a generic epinephrine auto-injector. Pharmacists in many states will be able to substitute the generic version but in some cases they may not, leaving Mylan with higher revenue than if it had cut the price across the board.

That is, of course, not the company’s official line. In press release, CEO Heather Bresch said, “Because of the complexity and opaqueness of today’s branded pharmaceutical supply chain and the increased shifting of costs to patients as a result of high deductible health plans, we determined that bypassing the brand system in this case and offering an additional alternative was the best option.” Which … all right.

Mylan may also be taking this opportunity to get a jump on potential generic competition. The Food and Drug Administration rejected an application by the drugmaker Teva Generics to sell its own version of the EpiPen this year. But after all the outrage, and the congressional scrutiny its generated, it seems a tad unlikely the agency is going to delay the entrance of a rival device much longer if another application comes through. Hopefully we can look forward to more price cuts in the years to come.

