Questcor Settles Antitrust Suit with Baylor University for $2 Million

Questcor Pharmaceuticals will pay Baylor University $2 million to settle a lawsuit alleging anticompetitive practices.

The lawsuit, filed in January by the Federal Trade Commission, the state of Texas and four other state attorneys general, alleged Questcor acquired the U.S. rights to Synacthen, a potential competitor for its hormone drug Acthar, to block competition from the market. Following the acquisition, the company upped the price of Acthar from $40 per vial to $34,000 per vial, an 85,000 percent increase.

Baylor will use the settlement to fund neurological research into infantile spasms during epileptic seizures, which Acthar was used to treat. Questcor must also transfer the rights to Synacthen to another company that will have an incentive to develop and market it in the U.S.