Sanofi Settles Vaccine Antitrust Dispute

Sanofi Pasteur Inc., has agreed to pay $61.5 million in a five-year long class action brought by doctors alleging that the drug company violated antitrust laws with contracts for its pediatric vaccines, according to an agreement filed in federal court in New Jersey in late January. Specifically, the plaintiffs claimed the drug company held a dominant position in five pediatric vaccine markets, including a complete monopoly with quadrivalent meningococcal vaccine Menactra from 2005 to February 2010, when a competitor was introduced. At that point, Sanofi began bundling Menactra with other pediatric vaccines and substantially increasing the prices.  According to the suit, Sanofi customers who bought a certain percentage of all four pediatric vaccines received a “loyalty discount” that reduced prices back to where they had been prior to the entry of the Novartis’ vaccine onto the market. Customers who did not buy enough of the four vaccines allegedly paid much more, according to the suit. The lawsuit class was composed for 25,000 physician practices, 1,000 hospitals, 2,000 pharmacies, and 100 wholesalers. The suit received class certification in September 2015. The class was defined as anyone who purchased Menactra directly from Sanofi or its subsidiaries such as VaxServe Inc.  Buyers in exclusive contracts for Sanofi vaccine bundles faced a penalty if they used Menveo instead of Menactra, the suit claimed. The penalty—ranging from 15.8% to 34.5%...
Source: Policy and Medicine - Category: American Health Authors: Source Type: blogs