Pfizer along with its two subsidiaries ̶ Maryland-based Meridian Medical Technologies and Tennessee-based King Pharmaceuticals ̶ have eventually come to terms by paying $345 Million in an attempt to settle against all the lawsuits for EpiPen’s price increase.
EpiPens are auto-injectable devices, injecting the drug epinephrine, used for emergency treatment to a fatal allergic reaction anaphylaxis.
The New York-based company along with its two subsidiaries have asked the court in Kansas City, Kansas, to give sanction to the settlement plan as reported by Kansas City’s NPR station KCUR-FM.
Various cases were filed against the company around the country claiming its involvement in anticompetitive conduct regarding EpiPen. All the cases were brought to Kansas court.
A Pennsylvania-based company, Mylan, is also a litigant owning rights to the EpiPen brand, although the devices are manufactured by Pfizer. Mylan’s EpiPen package which cost about $100 back in 2007, now costs $650 without any pharmacy coupons or manufacturer discounts.
The District Judge, Daniel Crabtree, dismissed most of the accusations against Mylan, after which the settlement plan was devised. However, other antitrust claims are yet to be proceeded to trials scheduled in September.
Crabtree had also granted a summary judgment to Mylan’s former CEO, Heather Bresch, the daughter of Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia, as most of the price escalations were reported during her tenure. A merger between Mylan and Pfizer’s Upjohn unit establishing Pennsylvania-based Viatris lead her to step down from the said post in 2020.
The Pfizer spokesperson said that this resolution is intended to avoid “the distraction of continued litigation and focus on breakthroughs that change patients’ lives.”
