A federal court in Washington has awarded damages of $69 million to four health insurers nearly three years after a jury found that Mylan Laboratories Inc. violated antitrust laws by overcharging for two generic versions of popular anti-anxiety drugs.
In June 2005, a federal jury in the District of Columbia ordered Mylan to pay at least $12 million to Blue Cross Blue Shield plans in Massachusetts and Minnesota, as well as Owatonna, Minn.-based Federated Mutual Insurance Co. and Health Care Service Corp.
The awards stemmed from allegations that Pittsburgh, Pa.-based Mylan increased prices by up to 2,000 percent for lorazepam and clorazepate, generic versions of the drugs Ativan and Tranxene, after exclusive agreements that kept other generic competitors from obtaining needed raw materials.
The jury found Mylan's actions were willful, which allowed lawyers for the insurers to seek triple damages. On Thursday, Washington, D.C.-based U.S. District Judge Thomas Hogan awarded triple damages.
The court awarded Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts $58.5 million; Blue Cross Blue Shield of Minnesota, $5.3 million; Federated Mutual Insurance Co., $1.2 million; and $4.3 million for Health Care Service Corp., the Chicago-based operator of Blue Cross and Blue Shield plans in Illinois, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas.
"Our clients are extremely pleased at this long-awaited outcome," said W. Scott Simmer, a Minneapolis attorney who represented three of the plaintiff health plans.
The triple damages award "sends a strong message to Mylan that their violations were unacceptable," Simmer said.
A spokesman for Mylan did not immediately return a phone message seeking comment Friday.
The order requires Mylan to share responsibility for paying damages with Cambrex Corp., a subsidiary of Profarmco that supplied materials to Mylan to make the drugs; and Gyma Laboratories, a distributor.
The case grew out of exclusive licensing agreements among the defendants dating to 1997 that allegedly led Mylan to raise prices for the medication. The agreements were terminated in December 1998 after the Federal Trade Commission announced an investigtion into Mylan's actions. The FTC subsequently entered into a $100 million settlement with Mylan Laboratories, which now uses the corporate name Mylan Inc.
