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from the this-is-what-happens-when-you-get-greedy dept.
Just months after an outcry about a price hike for the life-saving "Epipen", CVS pharmacies will begin carrying a new generic injector at a cutthroat price:
Pharmaceutical giant CVS announced Thursday that it has partnered with Impax Laboratories to sell a generic epinephrine auto-injector for $109.99 for a two-pack—a dramatic cut from Mylan's Epipen two-pack prices, which list for more than $600 as a brand name and $300 as a generic.
The lower-cost auto-injector, a generic form of Adrenaclick, is available starting today nationwide in the company's more than 9,600 pharmacies. Its price resembles that of EpiPen's before Mylan bought the rights to the life-saving devices back in 2007 and raised the price repeatedly, sparking outcry. [...] The price of $109.99 for the alternative applies to those with and without insurance, CVS noted. And Impax is also offering a coupon to reduce the cost to just $9.99 for qualifying patients. [...] Meanwhile, backlash to Mylan's price hikes continue. This week, Cigna, a top health insurance company, said that it will no longer cover Mylan's brand name EpiPen—it will only cover the generic, which was rolled out in December.
Previously: AllergyStop: $50 EpiPen is Production-Ready but...
Mylan Overcharged U.S. Government on EpiPens
(Score: 2) by davester666 on Saturday January 14 2017, @10:06PM
No, Mylan likely has follow-on patents with improvements on the original design. And they've got millions and millions in profit they can spend to sue the much smaller generic manufacturer delaying the introduction of the generic device (and the generic manufacturer has to fund the lawsuit with money from other products). And it takes years to resolve the lawsuit, and if the generic manufacturer loses, it can wipe them out completely.
Mylan stockholders won't sue because the result of the lawsuit doesn't really matter. Mylan makes more money regardless of the outcome, as if they lose, they aren't out any significant (for them) money, but the generic manufacturer had to fund the lawsuit (so they can't put that money into production), and possibly even not produce the competing device until the lawsuit is resolved.