Humana Accuses Mallinckrodt of Price-Gouging for H.P. Acthar Gel

Humana is taking Mallinckrodt to court over an alleged price hiking scheme for its H.P. Acthar Gel (corticotropin) that the health insurance company says forced it to overpay by $700 million over more than eight years.

Humana filed its complaint Monday in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, claiming that Mallinckrodt’s pricing of the gel, a drug currently approved for  19 indications, including arthritis, infantile spasms and multiple sclerosis, is “one of the most outrageous price-gouging schemes” in the nation’s history.

Mallinckrodt engaged in a “complex, multipart scheme involving monopoly, bribery, racketeering, fraud, and other deceptive and unfair practices that have imposed exorbitant and pointless costs on those financially responsible for the costs of the drug, including not just patients but also health and Medicare insurers,” according to Humana’s complaint.