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Amarin Pharma ‘boxed out’ competitors by seizing control of the supply of a key ingredient in its heart drug Vascepa, according to an antitrust class action lawsuit filed in New Jersey federal court Friday.
Lead plaintiff, Welfare Plan of The International Union of Operating Engineers Locals 137, 137A, 137B, 137C, 137R (IUOE Local 137), seeks to represent other groups nationwide who they say had to pay artificially high prices for the heart drug due to Amarin Pharma’s anticompetitive conduct. They accuse the company of entering into exclusive dealing contracts with suppliers of the drug’s ingredients, keeping competitors from producing cheaper, generic alternatives.
IUOE Local 137 says that it and other organizations who pay for Vascarpa have faced seven years of increasingly higher prices for the pharmaceutical. They accuse Amarin Pharma of engaging in illegal antitrust activity to retain its stranglehold on the market.
Vascepa has been shown both to lower triglycerides and to reduce the risk of cardiovascular events in patients who have high triglycerides, and in 2020, annual sales of Vascepa in the United States were over $600 million, says the class action lawsuit.
IUOE Local 137 points out that Vascepa is Amarin’s only product. The heart drug was first put on the market in 2013 and Amarin Pharma has been increasing the price of Vacepa each year. In 2020, two generic competitors seemed ready to start producing a cheaper alternative.
However, Amarin Pharma prevented generic competition for its only product, Vascepa, by allegedly hoarding the world’s supply of icosapent ethyl, or IPE, the active pharmaceutical ingredient needed to make the drug.
“Faced with inevitable competition for its sole product, Vascepa, and having lost in litigation and exhausted every regulatory means to prevent and delay the launch of generic competitors, Amarin adopted an unlawful strategy to artificially extend its monopoly,” claims the class action lawsuit.
Indeed, a pair of competitors seeking to make a generic version of the drug took Amarin Pharma to court alleging Amarin had illegally delayed the introduction of generic Vascerpa into the market. The competitors won the court battle, but, when they tried to start production of their generic drug, they allegedly found that Amarin Pharma had taken control of the IPE supply worldwide.
“This scheme left Amarin free to continue charging supracompetitive prices and eke the most profit it could out of Vascepa, at the expense of the plaintiff and other purchasers of the drug,” states the class action lawsuit.
Amarin Pharma was hit with another Vascepa class action lawsuit claiming the company artificially inflated prices for the drug earlier this month.
IUOE Local 137 is seeking to represent organizations in dozens of states who allegedly paid artificially high prices for Vascepa.
Do you take Vascepa? Have you paid inflated prices for the drug? Tell us about your experience in the comment section below!
The plaintiff is represented by Frank R. Schirripa and Seth M. Pavsner of Hach Rose Schirripa & Cheverie LLP, Thomas M. Sobol, Lauren G. Barnes, and Abbye R. Klamann Ognibene of Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro LLP, and James R. Dugan, II, David S. Scalia, and Terrianne Benedetto of The Dugan Law Firm.
The Amarin Pharma Antitrust Class Action Lawsuit is Welfare Plan of The International Union of Operating Engineers Locals 137, 137A, 137B, 137C, 137R v. Amarin Pharma, Inc., et al., Case No. 3:21-cv-12416 om the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey.
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4 thoughts onAmarin Pharma Drove Up Price of Heart Drug, Says Antitrust Class Action Lawsuit
have paid over $388 out of pocket for Vacespa…and still taking it!
I have paid excessively for Vascepa for my former husband. Even with the “coupons” they offer, out-of-pocket costs were outrageous. I still get solicitation emails from the company to this day.
Over $70 paid twice for out of pocket vascepa
El Wrongo HIKMA attempting to illegally infringe