EpiPen Class Action Lawsuit Says Price Increase is ‘Unconscionable’

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An Ohio mother has filed a proposed consumer class action lawsuit against EpiPen maker Mylan Pharmaceuticals over the near 550 percent increase in the cost of the epinephrine injector since Mylan acquired the device in 2007.

Lead plaintiff Linda Bates is a Cincinnati resident whose now 15-year-old son suffers from peanut allergies which Bates began purchasing for him when he was five years old.

The medication in the device lasts about a year, and every year Bates has to buy a new one.

According to Bates, she paid $50 last year for her son’s EpiPen. “She has been informed by her pharmacists that the same EpiPen will now cost her $600,” the lawsuit says.

“The outrageous, unconscionable and immoral high prices set by [Mylan Pharmaceuticals], is nothing more than price-gouging,” the lawsuit states.

Pennsylvania-based Mylan has raised the U.S. price of an EpiPen from $57, when it acquired the product in 2007, to more than $600, drawing outrage from parents, consumer groups and U.S. politicians.

Countless people are prescribed EpiPens to reverse an allergic reaction known as anaphylaxis, which can lead to swelling of the throat and make someone unable to breathe.

They are life-saving devices that, according to the lawsuit, have been classified as “essential medication” by the World Health Organization.

Children who are susceptible to the allergic reaction are often required to have them at school.

EpiPen automatically injects the drug dose of epinephrine in the thigh to combat-threatening allergic reactions, caused by insect bites or stings, medicines, foods, or other substances. Epinephrine is also used to treat anaphylaxis that is caused by unknown substances or triggered by exercise. It is only available by prescription.

Mylan Pharmaceuticals, the lawsuit says, has a legal duty and obligation to set a fair, affordable and reasonable price “and not hold consumers hostage by forcing them to pay exorbitant prices for its medically necessary product.”

At the same time as Mylan has increased the price of EpiPens, the lawsuit claims company executives have seen their salaries skyrocket. Mylan CEO Heather Bresch saw her salary jump to $18.9 million last year from $2.4 million in 2007, according to the lawsuit.

The lawsuit further alleges that Mylan violated Ohio’s Consumer Sales Practices Act, which prohibits a supplier from committing “an unconscionable act or practice in connection with a consumer transaction.”

In related news, Bloomberg reports that two senior U.S. senators are looking into Mylan’s price increases for the EpiPen, saying that the company’s practices may have limited competition and access to the treatment.

“The substantial price increase could limit access to a much-needed medication,” Senator Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) wrote to Bresch in an Aug. 22 letter.

In a separate letter, Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-Minnesota) asked the Federal Trade Commission to look into whether Mylan had done anything to deny competitors access to the market in order to keep raising prices.

Mylan is also facing a separated proposed class action lawsuit filed in late August in Michigan federal court. This lawsuit accuses Mylan of gouging consumers by selling EpiPens only in packs of two.

The proposed class action lawsuit filed Tuesday in Hamilton County Common Pleas Court seeks unspecified damages against Mylan Pharmaceuticals.

Bates seeks to represent a statewide Class of individuals in Ohio who bought EpiPens from 2007 to the present.

The plaintiff is represented by Cornelius “Carl” Lewis of the The Lewis Law Firm Inc., LPA.

The EpiPen Price Increase Class Action Lawsuit is Linda Bates v. Mylan Pharmaceuticals Inc., in the Court of Common Pleas, Hamilton County, Ohio.