Sanofi, the French pharmaceutical giant that once owned the rights to market the Auvi-Q epinephrine auto-injector, filed suit yesterday in federal court in Trenton against Mylan, the marketer of EpiPen. The lawsuit alleges that Mylan caused Sanofi to lose hundreds of millions of dollars in sales by erecting barriers to competition with the EpiPen brand.
Following a class action suit against Mylan by consumers, Sanofi’s suit claims Mylan offered rebates to commercial and state insurers and pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) on the condition they not offer reimbursement for the Auvi-Q auto-injector.
“At the time when Sanofi was marketing Auvi-Q, Mylan engaged in illegal business practices to block a new and innovative product from competing against their best-selling epinephrine auto-injector, harming customers who sought to switch to Auvi-Q and harming Sanofi,” Sanofi said.
As our readers are well aware, Sanofi exited the auto-injector market after issuing a global recall of the Auvi-Q following reports that several of the devices might deliver too little epinephrine or none at all. Kaleo has since reacquired the rights to manufacture and market Auvi-Q and reintroduced the device in the US in February.
