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18 November 2021AmericasAlex Baldwin

Judge approves Pfizer’s $345m EpiPen settlement

EpiPen buyers have secured final approval of a $345 million settlement with Pfizer in a consumer antitrust suit.

Judge Daniel Crabtree of the US District Court for the District of Kansas approved the settlement on Wednesday, November 17, awarding the consumers who claimed to have overpaid for the allergy treatment due to anti-competitive practices from Pfizer and the drug’s marketer Mylan.

As part of the settlement, law firms representing the class—Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd, Keller Rohrback, Boies Schiller Flexner and The Lanier Law Firm—were awarded $115 million in fees.

The settlement only applies to Pfizer and does not resolve a separate suit between the class and Mylan.

This suit began following a public outcry over the “jarring” price hike of the treatment after Mylan acquired the EpiPen franchise.

According to the class-action complaint Mylan raised the price of EpiPens from $93.88 per two-pack in 2007 to $608.61 in 2016.

The original complaint claimed that the two pharma giants engaged in “deceptive practices” by “artificially restricting” the EpiPen expiration date to 12-months despite an estimated 27-month shelf life, as well as price-gouging.

Mylan, which is now part of Viatris, had most of the claims against it dismissed in a summary judgment motion handed down in June.

The only remaining claim against Mylan in this class action pertains to a patent settlement between Pfizer and Teva and other alleged actions regarding the launch of Teva's generic epinephrine auto-injector.

However, Mylan agreed to pay $465 million to settle related claims in an antitrust suit brought by the US Government in 2017.

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More on this story

Europe
2 May 2018   The European Patent Office has revoked a patent covering Mylan’s EpiPen injector after finding that patent amendments contravened the European Patent Convention (EPC).
Americas
17 August 2018   The US Food and Drug Administration yesterday granted Teva approval for the first generic version of EpiPen, an autoinjector pen used for the emergency treatment of allergic reactions.

More on this story

Europe
2 May 2018   The European Patent Office has revoked a patent covering Mylan’s EpiPen injector after finding that patent amendments contravened the European Patent Convention (EPC).
Americas
17 August 2018   The US Food and Drug Administration yesterday granted Teva approval for the first generic version of EpiPen, an autoinjector pen used for the emergency treatment of allergic reactions.