Mylan Accused of Accepting Pay-off From Competitor
Posted by
Mike SimonMarch 21, 2007 9:27 AMA lawsuit filed by The Prescription Access Litigation Project, a consumer action group, alleges that Mylan Laboratories, Inc. accepted money from Cephalon, one of its competitors, to delay marketing of a generic version of the drug Provigil.
Generic drugs typically cost much less, and the suit alleges that consumers paid more as a result of the $136 million pay-off Mylan and other generic drug manufacturers received from Cephalon. As a result of generic drugs not entering the market, the plaintiffs allege that Cephalon was able to substantially increase its profits at the expense of consumers.
The plaintiffs in the suit include: Vista Healthplan Inc., a Florida health-benefits provider; the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission, which pays medical benefits for more than 2,000 employees; and the Pennsylvania Employees Benefit Trust Fund, which provides health coverage to more than 270,000 beneficiaries.
Along with Mylan, named defendants include: Barr Laboratories of Pomona, New York; Ranbaxy Laboratories, based in New Dehli, India, with offices in Princeton, New Jersey; and Teva Pharmaceutical Industries, based in Petach Tikva, Israel, with offices in North Wales, Pennsylvania.
Mylan is based in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania, and its biggest production facility is in Morgantown, West Virginia.