Class action lawsuit filed against Mylan over price increases

Three EpiPen purchasers have filed a class-action lawsuit against Mylan claiming the drug company engaged in an illegal organized scheme to systematically increase EpiPen prices by 574 percent, according to the complaint filed by the Hagens Berman firm on Monday.

The lawsuit states that since Mylan acquired the rights to market and distribute the EpiPen in 2007, it has increased the list prices 17 times, from $90.28 to $608.62, according to Attorney Steve Berman in Seattle. This has caused some patients to carrying expired EpiPens, or to use syringes to manually inject epinephrine.

The lawsuit was brought by Amber Rainey, Christina Kollmeyer and Lisa Vogel.The lawsuit seeks to represent EpiPen consumers nationwide to reclaim economic losses in an amount to be determined at trial.

[Also: UPDATED: CVS offers low-cost epinephrine auto-injector at less than half the price of EpiPen]

The suit was made public days after Mylan expanded a recall for their signature EpiPen due to a defective part that could cause the auto-injector to fail to activate, the company announced.

Mylan and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Friday announced the recall of the auto-injector products used for emergency treatment of severe allergic reactions.

Mylan and Meridian Medical expanded the recall as a result of two previously disclosed reports outside of the United States that detailed a potential defect in a supplier component that could make the device difficult to activate in an emergency. This would have significant health consequences for a patient experiencing a life-threatening allergic reaction, Mylan said.

Both reports are related to a single lot that was previously recalled. The recall is being expanded to include additional lots as a precautionary measure.

Mylan distributes EpiPen, which is made by  Meridian Medical Technologies, a Pfizer company. The products under recall were distributed by Mylan between December 2015 and July 2016, Mylan said. It includes the United States and additional markets in Europe, Asia, North and South America.

The recall impacts 13 lots of the 0.3 mg and 0.15 mg strengths of EpiPen and EpiPen Jr.  None of the recalled lots include the generic for EpiPen Auto-Injector, which is also manufactured by Meridian Medical Technologies.

Mylan came under criticism last year for raising the price of EpiPen to more than $600 per injection. Why Mylan acquired EpiPen in 2007, the price was about $93 per injection.

To help calm price gouging criticism, Mylan released a generic version at about $300 per injection.