Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita filed a lawsuit against pharmaceutical companies Pfizer and Mylan, alleging they conspired to increase the price of medical device EpiPen. Photo by Tbel Abuseridze, Unsplash.

News Release

INDIANAPOLIS — Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita filed a lawsuit against pharmaceutical companies Pzifer and Mylan Thursday, Jan. 16, alleging they conspired to increase the price of EpiPens by over 600%.

EpiPens are devices that inject adrenaline into patients, combating potentially life-threatening allergic reactions.

“Pharmaceutical companies have prioritized profits over patients,” Attorney General Rokita said. “Many Indiana residents rely on these medications to stay alive. Hoosiers deserve to know that the prices they pay for epinephrine arise from free and fair competition.”

The lawsuit, filed in Marion Superior Court, alleges the companies violated the Medicaid False Claims Act, the Indiana Antitrust Act, and the Indiana Deceptive Consumer Sales Act by increasing the EpiPen’s price and paying pharmacy benefit managers, or PBMs, to exclude any competition.

It also asserts doctors have been paid by the companies to claim their newly-launched 2-pak of the EpiPen is medically necessary, allowing the companies to end the sale of individual EpiPens.

Epipens are manufactured by two subsidiaries of Pfizer, King Pharmaceuticals and Meridian Medical Technologies, and sold by Mylan. According to the lawsuit filed by Rokita, Mylan’s branded EpiPens took up to 98% of the epinephrine auto-injector market from at least 2011 through 2017.