HARRISBURG — Attorney General Josh Shapiro announced that Pennsylvania, along with the U.S. Justice Department, has finalized a settlement with the drug manufacturer Mylan Inc., resolving claims that it overcharged taxpayers for its EpiPen emergency allergy treatment. As part of the overall settlement, Pennsylvania will receive $8.3 million.
Mylan will pay $456 million overall to the U.S. government and the states in the settlement, including Pennsylvania. Every state participating in Medicaid that received a false claim involving EpiPen will benefit. The $8.3 million restitution to Pennsylvania will help replenish its Medicaid program. The settlement will resolve allegations that Mylan knowingly underpaid rebates owed to state Medicaid programs for EpiPen by classifying it as a generic instead of a brand name drug for years. Mylan owns the rights to sell EpiPen in the United States, and drug companies are responsible for ensuring their products are correctly classified.
“Mylan knowingly profited from its misclassification of EpiPen, scamming Pennsylvanians and putting their profit above people’s health and safety,” Attorney General Shapiro said. “Pennsylvanians have the right to expect drug companies like Mylan, who receive payments from taxpayer-funded programs, to play by the rules and act responsibly. If they do not, I’ll hold them accountable.”
Mylan Inc. is headquartered in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania. It manufactures, markets and sells pharmaceuticals.
The settlement resolves claims that from July 2010 to March 2017, Mylan submitted false statements to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), inaccurately classifying EpiPen as a generic rather than a brand-name drug, resulting in Mylan overcharging taxpayers for the drug.
As part of the settlement, Mylan has also agreed to an outside annual review to ensure it is complying with the Medicaid rebate program. The classification issue was first raised in 2014 by a rival drugmaker, which filed a whistleblower lawsuit against Mylan over the disputed practice.
Attorney General Shapiro noted the successful settlement with Mylan was reached in part because participating states have false claims statutes. If Pennsylvania passes its own false claims statute, Shapiro added, “We can and will be leaders in pursuing cases involving Medicaid fraud.”
