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Indiana will receive $6.25 million as part of a settlement with pharmaceutical companies regarding an alleged conspiracy to increase EpiPen prices.
Attorney General Todd Rokita announced the settlement Monday, just over a year after filing an antitrust lawsuit against Pfizer Inc., Viatris Inc. and several other companies that distribute EpiPens, which are prescription devices that inject epinephrine into patients to treat severe allergic reactions.
“Some pharmaceutical companies have prioritized profits over patients,” Rokita said in a press release. “But by demonstrating there are severe penalties for unlawful tactics to overcharge Hoosiers, we can deter this kind of conduct in the future.”
Attorneys for the defendants did not immediately respond to The Indiana Lawyer’s requests for comments.
In his January 2025 lawsuit, Rokita alleged the companies and their subsidiaries violated the Indiana Antitrust Act, the Indiana Deceptive Consumer Sales Act and the Medicaid False Claims Act by repeatedly increasing the price of EpiPens and paying pharmacy benefit managers to exclude competitors.
EpiPen prices under Mylan – which merged with the company Upjohn in 2020 to form the Pfizer subsidiary Viatris – have increased by over 600% between February 2007 and February 2016, according to the complaint, which lists the asking price of $608 for an EpiPen in 2016.
Rokita claimed that these companies also paid doctors to endorse the launch of two-pack EpiPens and say it was medically necessary, curtailing the sale of individual devices in the process.
The lawsuit was originally filed in Marion Superior Court but was moved to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana in February 2025 at the request of defendants, who said the lawsuit’s claims raise substantial federal questions.
The lawsuit is one of several Rokita has filed regarding health care and medical costs. At the end of last year, Rokita filed a lawsuit against Indianapolis-based drugmaker Eli Lilly and Co. over the company’s alleged inflation of insulin prices.
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