FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thursday, April 30, 2026
Contact: comms@ncdoj.gov
919-538-2809
RALEIGH — A two-pack of EpiPens cost about $100 in 2007. By 2016, it cost about $600.
Today, Attorney General Jeff Jackson announced an $11 million settlement with Mylan, the exclusive U.S. marketer and distributor of EpiPen Auto-Injectors, to recover money North Carolina overpaid because of those price increases. The State Health Plan and North Carolina Medicaid will each receive $4.2 million.
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“They used their control of the market to keep competitors out and drive the price up,” said Attorney General Jeff Jackson. “That’s not legal. We made them pay it back.”
“To have our hardworking state employees and taxpayers across North Carolina be overcharged for a lifesaving drug is unconscionable,” said Treasurer Brad Briner. “Every little bit helps when it comes to funding for our State Health Plan, and efforts like this one keep us on the right track toward controlling healthcare costs for our members.”
“People with life-threatening allergies need the medications that will save their lives – and for most people, that’s an auto injector,” said Dr. Austin Lucke, an emergency medicine doctor in eastern North Carolina. “Affordable access to this medication can be lifesaving. The inability to afford it can be fatal, particularly in our most vulnerable, including pediatric populations.”
“Affordable access to medications is the top concern we hear from our community,” said Kenneth Mendez, President and CEO of the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America. “Whether at the state or federal level, we support reforms that address practices in this system that create artificially high prices. We commend Attorney General Jackson and Treasurer Briner for taking action on behalf of patients and the taxpayers who fund their care.”
The State Health Plan covers more than 750,000 teachers, troopers, state employees, retirees, and their families. Last year, more than 10,000 State Health Plan members filled at least one prescription for an epinephrine auto-injector.
The settlement resolves allegations that Mylan used anti-competitive tactics to maintain its dominance and raise prices – including paying pharmacy benefit managers to keep generics off preferred drug lists, delaying generic competitors from reaching the market, and making misleading claims about competing products.
It also resolves allegations that Mylan misclassified EpiPen under the Medicaid Drug Rebate Program and forced consumers to buy two-packs they did not always need.
Mylan has agreed to increase its co-pay coupon for the authorized generic version of EpiPen from $25 to $40, which will lower out-of-pocket costs.
As part of the settlement, Mylan denies any wrongdoing.
This settlement is part of Attorney General Jackson’s continuing work on prescription drug prices. In February, he reached two settlements totaling $17.85 million with Lannett and Bausch over generic drug price-fixing. He has also joined a bipartisan group of attorneys general pushing the U.S. Department of Labor to require pharmacy benefit managers to disclose how they make money.
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