French pharmaceutical company Sanofi sued Mylan on Monday, saying that the company engaged in illegal marketing of its life-saving EpiPen to drown out the competition.
The lawsuit accuses Mylan of offering low prices to private health insurers and Medicaid in exchange for a promise that they would not cover Sanofi’s Auvi-Q device, which saves patients from a severe allergic reaction and is similar to EpiPen.
“Mylan engaged in illegal conduct to squelch this nascent competition, harming both Sanofi and U.S. consumers,” Sanofi wrote in the complaint.
Mylan holds a monopoly over EpiPen, and for years the company sold its device directly to schools and offered donations if the schools agreed not to buy competing devices.
Mylan faced backlash last year after news surfaced that the price of its EpiPen increased from about $100 in 2007 to $609 for a two-pack now. The issue was brought before a House Oversight and Government Reform Committee hearing, in which lawmakers grilled Mylan CEO Heather Bresch, daughter of West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin, over her multibillion-dollar salary and the company’s price-gouging practices.
In December Mylan began offering a generic version of its product, which allowed Mylan to keep its market share against current drugs or any new ones that enter the market, including generics.
Sanofi withdrew Auvi-Q in 2015 because of dosing problems, but the device is now sold by Kaleo Pharma. Sanofi is asking for a jury trial, and Myaln has 21 days to respond to the lawsuit.
