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Mylan's Epic EpiPen Price Hike Wasn't About Greed -- It's Worse, Lawsuit Claims (arstechnica.com)

Posted by msmash on from the what's-happening dept.

Mylan engaged in a campaign to squash a rival to its EpiPen allergy treatment and artificially inflate the price of the drug to maintain a market monopoly, French drugmaker Sanofi said in a lawsuit. From a report: With the lofty prices and near-monopoly over the market, Mylan could dangle deep discounts to drug suppliers -- with the condition that they turn their backs on Sanofi's Auvi-Q -- the lawsuit alleges. Suppliers wouldn't dare ditch EpiPens, the most popular auto-injector. And with the high prices, the rebates wouldn't put a dent in Mylan's hefty profits, Sanofi speculates. Coupled with a smear campaign and other underhanded practices, Mylan effectively pushed Sanofi out of the US epinephrine auto-injector market, Sanofi alleges. The lawsuit, filed Monday in a federal court in New Jersey, seeks damages under US Antitrust laws.

5 of 159 comments (clear)

  1. Er...so it was about greed? by xxxJonBoyxxx · · Score: 5, Insightful

    >> Mylan's Epic EpiPen Price Hike Wasn't About Greed -- It's Worse
    >> Mylan effectively pushed Sanofi out of the US epinephrine auto-injector market

    Competitor A pushes competitor B out of the market to corner the market and drive up profits, right? In other words, it's about greed, right?

    1. Re:Er...so it was about greed? by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 5, Insightful

      In other words, it's about greed, right?

      It is also about bad laws and poor regulation. They are able to use their near-monopoly position to push their customers into exclusivity agreements, reducing competition, strengthening their market dominance, and unfairly harming consumers. In most cases, exclusivity agreements should be illegal.

  2. not holding my breath by avandesande · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Bank fiasco 2008 nobody sent to jail Drug companies and medical companies numerous antitrust and illegal anti consumer practices, nobody in jail Banks knowingly laundering drug money nobody in jail

    --
    love is just extroverted narcissism
  3. Re:boo. by fred6666 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    The government is also free not to cover your product, and can negotiate a better deal with your competitor.
    All other developed countries have a public health care system and it works just fine, they end up spending less on health care than the US with its private system, and the population is generally in better health condition.

  4. Re:GO DIRECTLY TO JAIL! by Cinnamon+Beige · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Well, I suppose that saves Mylan on bribes to get that precious, precious regulatory capture that they've also been using to block competing tech from the US market.