MINNEAPOLIS -- U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar has criticized the sharp price hikes for EpiPens, the emergency drug injectors for severe allergic reactions, saying it's outrageous that the manufacturer is making money off the backs of kids and adults who have few alternatives.

A two-pack has risen from about $100 in 2008 to as much as $600 today. The Minnesota Democrat says there's no way that drug-maker Mylan can justify such steep increases.

Klobuchar was joined at a news conference at Children's Hospital in Minneapolis on Monday by pediatricians who denounced the price increases as unconscionable.

Also speaking was 12-year-old Grace Heinze, who has a severe peanut allergy. Grace says she carries a backpack with EpiPens everywhere she goes because they're her best shot of staying alive if she has a reaction.

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