Allergan (NYSE:AGN) said this week that it will “vigorously defend” the patents for its Restasis eye drops, after the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office’s Patent Trial and Appeal Board agreed to an inter partes review of 6 patents as requested by generic competitor Mylan (NSDQ:MYL). The patents are valid until August 2024. “Allergan is disappointed in […]
Legal News
UK slaps Pfizer with record $107m fine over price hikes
The U.K.’s Competition & Markets Authority reportedly fined Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) and Flynn Pharma a record amount for the companies’ massive price hikes to their unbranded versions of anti-epilepsy drug Epanutin. The British anti-trust watchdog fined Pfizer and Flynn Pharma $107 million (£84.2 million) and $6.5 million (£5.2 million), respectively. New York City-based Pfizer used to market the phenytoin sodium anti-epilepsy […]
Pharma execs assess landscape under President Trump
Executives from U.S. drugmakers such as Regeneron Pharmaceuticals and Pfizer talked about the possible changes awaiting the industry under President-elect Donald Trump at the Forbes Healthcare Summit this week. After he was elected, pharmaceutical stocks surged as investors concluded the threat of action on drug pricing had lessened. Trump has said he wants to repeal […]
UPDATE: Mylan declines to testify at Senate committee hearing
Updated to include the Senate Judiciary Committee’s response. Mylan (NDSQ:MYL) declined to testify at a U.S. Senate committee regarding its $465 million pending settlement to deal with charges that it underpaid government healthcare programs when it misclassified its EpiPen injector as a generic. The Canonsburg, Pa.-based company penned a letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee […]
Report finds pressure from Congress does not budge drug prices
Committees in Congress have issued more than a dozen subpoenas to drug-makers for alleged price-hiking in the last 2 years, with members of the House and Senate collecting hundreds of thousands of documents on pricing strategies and marketing tactics. They’ve put pharmaceutical execs through more than 16 hours of public testimony. But an Associated Press review shows that pressure from Washington […]
California insurance board subpoenas Valeant
Valeant Pharmaceuticals (NYSE:VRX) said yesterday that it received an investigative subpoena from the California Dept. of Insurance last month over its ties to a specialty pharmacy, Philidor Rx Services. The company is facing allegations that it used Philidor to force customers to pay higher prices for its drugs. The subpoena reportedly asked for materials such as documents […]
Senate panel adds to call for hearings over Mylan’s EpiPen pricing
The U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee yesterday called on the Federal Trade Commission to investigate whether Mylan (NSDQ:MYL) broke the law after reports claimed the EpiPen maker prevented schools from buying competing allergy treatments. In a letter penned to the FTC, committee chairman Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) and ranking member Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) wrote, “increasing patient access […]
UPDATE: BTG’s U.S. Biocompatibles business to pay $36m settlement, plead guilty to misbranding
Updated to include BTG’s guilty plea entered Nov 7. BTG (LON:BTG) said today that it agreed to pay the U.S. Justice Dept. $36 million (£28.4 million) to settle a probe into the marketing of the LC Bead embolization microspheres made by its Biocompatibles subsidiary. The company plead guilty on Monday, November 7, to charges of improperly marketing […]
Mylan, Teva crash on report that Justice Dept. could file charges in generic pricing probes
The U.S. Justice Dept. could reportedly file charges in its generic-drug pricing probe into companies including Mylan Pharmaceuticals (NSDQ:MYL) and Teva Pharmaceuticals (NYSE:TEVA) by the end of year. The department is examining whether the generic drug makers colluded on drug pricing, Bloomberg reported yesterday. The news source said that Mylan and Teva have disclosed subpoenas and are cooperating […]
West Virginia wants Justice Dept. to nix Mylan settlement
(Reuters) – West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey on Wednesday blasted a pending $465 million settlement between Mylan NV (NSDQ:MYL) and the U.S. Justice Dept. over the misclassification of the EpiPen, saying it was “woefully deficient.” In a Nov. 2 letter to Attorney General Loretta Lynch, Morrisey said the amount likely fell short of how […]
