Impax settles ‘fax-blasting’ class action suit over EpiPen alternative

Impax Laboratories (NSDQ:IPXL) will pony up $4.8 million to settle claims that it sent blasts of unsolicited faxes to Family Medicine Pharmacy advertising its epinephrine auto-injector, according to a document filed in a Alabama federal court this week.

The Alabama-based pharmacy filed the proposed class action suit against Impax in January, alleging that the pharmaceutical company was sending unsolicited faxes advertising its EpiPen alternative without any option to opt out and occupying the use of their fax machines.

Family Medicine Pharmacy claimed that Impax’s behavior violated the Junk Fax Prevention Act, which was signed into federal law in 2005. The law requires senders of fax advertisements to include contact information and notice on the fax that allows recipients to opt out of future fax transmissions. It also states that senders must honor opt-out requests within a 30-day period.

The pharmacy also notes in its original complaint, which was filed in the Alabama Southern District Court under judge William Steele, that the two parties did not have an existing business relationship when Impax alleging inundated its offices with ads.

Impax’s emergency allergy injection product, AdrenaClick, is similar to Mylan‘s (NSDQ:MYL) EpiPen, although regulators do not consider the 2 devices to be exactly the same.

In January, CVS Health Corp. (NYSE:CVS) announced that it will start selling a cheaper, generic version of Adrenaclick.

The Adrenaclick has a list price of more than $400, but the generic is available at all CVS pharmacy locations for both insured and uninsured patients at a cash price of $109.99.

Impax’s device needs to be assembled by hand, unlike Mylan’s EpiPen. The EpiPen 2-pack has a list price of $649.99, according to Reuters, while Mylan’s newly-launched generic rings in at $339.99

Early last month, the largest pharmacy benefit manager in the U.S., Express Scripts (NSDQ:ESRX), said that it would include Mylan’s EpiPen on its 2018 formulary, favoring the drugmaker’s product over auto-injectors from competitors like Impax and Kaleo.

Express Scripts has practiced excluding certain medicines from its list of covered drugs since 2014, pointing towards the high prices taken on by health insurers.

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