Controversial pharma company Mylan offered several states participating in Medicaid purchasing pools discounts on the EpiPen if they could ensure competitors’ products weren’t readily available to patients, according to a new report that raises additional concerns that the drugmaker engaged in anti-competitive practices as it raised the price of the life-saving drug nearly 400% in just 10 years. [More]
epipen
Report: Mylan Offered Discounts To States If They Made It Harder For Patients To Get Alternatives
By 6.22.17
Public Outcry Hasn’t Actually Decreased The Price Of EpiPens
By 6.5.17
Remember last year around back-to-school time, when the public focused its ire on drug company Mylan for charging hundreds of dollars for $1 worth of the drug epinephrine in each EpiPen brand auto-injector? While that generated plenty of bad publicity for Mylan, turns out Mylan doesn’t actually care. [More]
HHS: Taxpayers May Have Overpaid $1.27 Billion For EpiPens
By 5.31.17 — Updated: 6.1.17
Even though drug company Mylan agreed to pay $465 million to quickly settle a Justice Department investigation into allegations that it deliberately overcharged Medicaid for its EpiPen emergency allergy injector, a new report from the Department of Health and Human Services indicates that taxpayers may have overpaid more than twice that amount over ten years. [More]
Lawsuit: EpiPen Price Hikes Were Intended To Keep Competitor Out Of Pharmacies
By 4.26.17 — Updated: 5.9.17
Competition is supposed to keep prices down, so why did the cost of emergency allergy treatment EpiPen continue to soar after the introduction of a competing product? Because, according to a new lawsuit, most of that added money was going to intermediaries who could make sure that EpiPen remained the preferred (and sometimes only) drug of its kind on insurance plans. [More]
EpiPen Maker Mylan Sued State That Gave Preferred Status To Cheaper Alternative
By 4.24.17
As the price for the EpiPen emergency allergy treatment soared by some 600%, Medicaid regulators in one state tried to de-prioritize the drug in favor of a less-expensive alternative. EpiPen’s parent company Mylan could have lowered the price on its signature product, but instead it chose to sue the state. [More]
EpiPen Maker Mylan Accused Of Raising Price To Pay “Kickbacks” To Pharmacy Benefit Managers
By 4.4.17 — Updated: 5.9.17
The EpiPen emergency allergy treatment was pushed into the spotlight last year over concerns about its skyrocketing price and the lack of any real competition for a product that had been around for decades. A new federal lawsuit alleges that Mylan — the company that acquired EpiPen ten years ago — raised its prices in order to provide bigger kickbacks to the companies that help determine which drugs your insurer will and won’t cover. [More]
Some EpiPen, EpiPen Jr. Devices Now Being Recalled In U.S. Because They May Not Work When Needed
By 3.31.17 — Updated: 5.9.17
Mylan, the makers of the EpiPen emergency allergy treatment are expanding a previously announced overseas recall to now include EpiPen and EpiPen Jr. devices distributed in the U.S. over concerns they may not function properly when needed. [More]
Some EpiPen Injectors Recalled, But Not In The U.S.
By and 3.21.17
Four batches of EpiPen auto-injectors have been recalled by the manufacturer over concerns that the devices may fail to work when needed. However, Mylan — the company behind the emergency allergy treatment — tells Consumerist that the potentially defective injectors were not distributed in the U.S. [More]
FTC Opens Antitrust Investigation Of Mylan Over EpiPen’s Market Dominance
By 1.30.17 — Updated: 1.31.17
The EpiPen was a perfect symbol of the current state of pharmaceutical companies and health care expenses: It was a life-saving drug that had been around for decades, often used by children, and with a price that kept rising. The controversy over the epinephrine injectors led to news stories, a Congressional hearing, a $465 million settlement for overcharging Medicaid, and investigations by the states of New York and West Virginia. [More]
CVS Selling Generic Alternative To EpiPen For Fraction Of The Price
By 1.12.17
Until the recent launch of the generic EpiPen, the only affordable competitor available to the emergency allergy treatment was Adrenaclick, but that drug was hard to find and some pharmacies charged nearly as much as they did for EpiPen. Now CVS says it is selling two-packs of an authorized generic of Adrenaclick at about one-sixth of the price tag for brand-name EpiPen. [More]
The EpiPen Generic Is Finally Here, For $300 Per Twin-Pack
By 12.16.16
A day after Mylan was one of six pharmaceutical companies named in a multi-state lawsuit alleging price-fixing on generic drugs, the maker of high-priced emergency allergy treatment EpiPen announced that the generic version of the popular epinephrine auto-injector is finally hitting the market, giving people a lower-cost (but still pricey) option for buying the drug. [More]
Mylan Execs Decline To Testify At Senate EpiPen Hearing On $465M Settlement
By 11.21.16
Mylan CEO Heather Bresch has already made one trip to Capitol Hill to answer questions regarding the skyrocketing price of the emergency epinephrine injectors, but it looks like the company won’t be making a repeat outing to talk with lawmakers. [More]
Mylan To Start Selling $300 Generic EpiPen Pack Next Month
By 11.10.16
Under pressure to reduce the price of its expensive EpiPen emergency allergy treatment, drugmaker Mylan said in August that it would be introducing a generic version of the drug at half the retail price. Now it looks like the less-costly epinephrine auto-injector will be hitting the market after Thanksgiving.
Senators Urge Mylan To Reimburse Defense Department For EpiPen Overcharges
By 11.8.16
A week after a report suggested that the Department of Defense had paid full retail price for EpiPens — to the tune of $54 million in overcharges — because the drug’s maker, Mylan, misclassified the live-saving medication, preventing the government from receiving proper rebates, lawmakers are calling on the drugmaker to reimburse those costs. [More]
Report: Defense Department Overpaid $54 Million For EpiPens
By 10.28.16
It looks like taxpayers didn’t just overpay for EpiPens purchased through Medicaid. According to a new report, the Department of Defense has been paying almost full retail price for the expensive emergency allergy treatment. [More]
EpiPen Competitor Auvi-Q Relaunching Next Year
By 10.26.16 — Updated: 10.31.16
Almost exactly a year after pharmaceutical maker Sanofi recalled nearly 500,000 epinephrine injectors after finding they might not provide the correct dosage to patients, the product is gearing up for a comeback, potentially creating a less expensive competitor to the highly scrutinized EpiPen. [More]
Sen. Elizabeth Warren: $465M Mylan EpiPen Settlement Is “Shamefully Weak… Shockingly Soft”
By 10.24.16
Earlier this month, drugmaker Mylan disclosed a $465 million settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice over allegations that the company had defrauded the Medicaid system by mis-categorizing its high-priced EpiPen allergy treatment. The DOJ has still yet to confirm this settlement or provide any details, and critics of the deal say it looks like Mylan is getting off easy. [More]
Mylan To Pay $465M To Settle EpiPen Medicaid Pricing Scandal; Critics Call Deal “Inadequate”
By 10.7.16 — Updated: 10.24.16
Amid recent revelations that EpiPen maker Mylan has been overcharging U.S. taxpayers for potentially hundreds of millions of dollars since at least 2011, the drug company says it has agreed to pay $465 million to close the book on a federal investigation into its Medicaid pricing — all without admitting any liability. [More]
