“No child’s life should be put at risk because a parent, school or healthcare provider can not afford a simple, life-saving device because of a drug-maker’s anti-competitive practices”, Eric Schneiderman said in a statement Tuesday, according to ABC News”.
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New York’s attorney general said Tuesday he has started in an investigation whether EpiPens sales to NY school districts violated the state’s competitive business practices.
Eric Schneiderman said Tuesday that his office is investigating Mylan Pharmaceuticals, the company that makes EpiPens, which are used to treat extreme allergic reactions and prevent people from going into anaphylactic shock in reaction to things like bee stings, peanut butter and shellfish.
An Ohio woman on Tuesday filed a proposed class action lawsuit against Mylan Pharmaceuticals Inc.in an Ohio county court, claiming sharp price hikes for the company’s EpiPen device violated the state’s consumer protection law.
“No child’s life should be put at risk because a parent, school, or health-care provider can not afford a simple, life-saving device because of a drug-maker’s anti-competitive practices”, Schneiderman said in a statement Tuesday.
“The program continues to adhere to all applicable laws and regulations”.
Since 2009, the company has increased the price of the product from about $100 per two-dose pack to as much as $600.
The company has said it will sell a $300 generic version of the drug.
Canonsburg, Pennsylvania-based Mylan N.V. says more than 700,000 free EpiPens have been distributed to over 65,000 schools, and it has dropped a previous purchase restriction for schools that wanted more at discounts. But Mylan’s EpiPen isn’t the only epinephrine auto-injector on the market. It has a 94 percent share of the market for such auto-injector devices. The primary reason for the increase is because EpiPen’s main competitor was taken off the market a year ago by the FDA due to inconsistent doses of the medication.
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NY is not one of them, but it does have guidelines to allow for the drug administration, saying schools “may provide and maintain on-site” epinephrine auto-injectors.
