Another Class-Action: Mylan Sued for Violations of Anti-Trust Laws
Another class-action lawsuit against Mylan has been filed for scheming to eliminate meaningful competition, evergreening the EpiPen patents and forestalling education initiatives for novel devides, using illegal exclusive dealing agreement to shut out competitors.
On April 7, 2017, a group of EpiPen purchasers filed a nationwide class-action lawsuit against Mylan and others over their unlawful scheme to monopolize the market for EpiPens, systematically raise prices without justification, and reap massive, inflated profits at customers’ expense.
According to the suit (attached below), “First, by “evergreening” the EpiPen device patents (a tactic by which patent holders make minor or insignificant changes in their devices or drugs, and then reintroduce them as new products with new and extended patent life) and by aggressive misuse of legal and regulatory systems, defendants have foreclosed the market to generic competition.
Second, to forestall education initiatives for novel devices, Mylan has used illegal exclusive dealing agreements to shut competitors out of public schools, and keep new auto-injectors from schools nurses, parents, students, administrators or others that might become familiar with them. Aside from safety concerns, insurance coverage is another important factor in choosing an auto-injector, yet defendants have used their monopoly power to manipulate coverage for competitor devices as well.”
After remaining relatively stable around $75 to $100 per dosage from 2001 through the end of 2008, beginning in and around 2009, in conjunction with the defendants’ successful efforts to effectively curtail any meaningful epinephrine auto-injector competition then and since, Mylan has raised the price of EpiPen at a rapid pace to over $600 per dosage in 2016 – an increase from its $99 December 2007 price of more than 514%, as illustrated below.
The lawsuit claims that Mylan has been able to maintain their epinephrine auto-injector market dominance for nearly a decade – they have illegally thwarted competition.
Since Mylan’s acquisition of EpiPen, the class-action suit claims that Mylan has engaged in specific conduct designed to exclude rivals and harm the competitive process in the epinephrine auto- injector market. Defendants’ anticompetitive and illegal exclusionary conspiracy to maintain Mylan’s monopoly has made them billions of dollars at the expense of consumers and third-party payors, with EpiPen annual sales recently exceeding $1 billion, up from $200 million in revenue when Mylan first acquired EpiPen.
Those who have purchased an EpiPen out-of-pocket or with a high deductible plan may contact the attorneys below to become involved in the case or learn more. Boies, Schiller Flexner LLP is a global powerhouse in litigation.
According to Law360.com, “throughout its 19-year history, Boies Schiller & Flexner LLP has garnered a reputation as a firm that excels at taking complicated cases to trial and has locked down major litigation victories for clients including Barclays and Oracle, earning it a place among Law360’s Litigation Powerhouses. With 260 attorneys — 115 of whom are partners — in its litigation practice, Boies Schiller takes pride in its ability to win difficult cases in creative ways for its diverse group of clients.”
Contact information is provided below for any questions or to learn more:
Duane Loft
BOIES SCHILLER FLEXNER LLP
(212) 909-7606
Brian Penny
Goldman│Scarlato│Penny p.c.
(484) 342-0700