Mylan agreed to pay Connecticut $8 million and supply 10,000 free EpiPens, Attorney General William Tong announced Oct. 22, to settle claims that the drugmaker illegally inflated prices on the emergency allergy injector. The pens come as 5,000 two-packs. Mylan denies any wrongdoing.
The money and the pens stay inside the state’s public health system. Connecticut’s announcement describes no payment to individual EpiPen buyers and no claim form, so families who paid for pens in earlier years have nothing to file under this deal.
What Connecticut says Mylan did
Tong’s office alleges Mylan violated state antitrust and consumer protection laws. Complaints in the litigation charged the company with pay-for-delay agreements with competitors that held back generic epinephrine auto-injectors. “Mylan abused its monopoly to jack up prices on its lifesaving, emergency medication,” Tong said.
Without competition, the state alleges, Mylan raised prices and lobbied legislators in several states to require epinephrine auto-injectors in schools, which lifted sales. Mylan also moved from a single EpiPen package to twin packs only, which forced buyers to purchase two devices at a time.
In 2016 Mylan faced public criticism over a price increase of about 400 percent. That brought Congressional hearings, a Federal Trade Commission investigation, and class action and competitor lawsuits. EpiPen sales peaked near $1 billion a year and now run about $469 million a year, the Connecticut release says.
Connecticut residents who keep an EpiPen for a child, a grandchild or themselves are the people this settlement touches, though not through a check. Those who struggle to afford an auto-injector can ask a community health center whether it received pens from the settlement supply. The attorney general’s consumer line, 860-808-5318, takes questions about the deal.
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Where the 10,000 pens are headed
The Department of Public Health is supporting distribution of the pens to about 30 federally qualified health centers across Connecticut, which serve low-income and underserved communities. Public Health Commissioner Manisha Juthani, M.D., said, “Severe allergic reactions can happen in an instant.”
Shawn K. Frick, president and chief executive of CHC/ACT, said, “EpiPens contain a life-saving – yet expensive – medication.” The release gives no per-center allocation. An even split of 5,000 two-packs across 30 centers would be about 167 two-packs apiece, though that figure is arithmetic, not a state number.
Consumer Protection Commissioner Bryan T. Cafferelli said that “actively taking steps to prevent generic alternatives” is not only illegal but “shameful.” His department joined the attorney general’s office and the health department in the announcement of the deal.
One piece of a much larger generic-drug case
Connecticut leads a coalition of nearly all states and territories in antitrust cases against 30 corporate defendants and 25 individual executives in the generic drug industry. Settlements with Sandoz, Glenmark, Lannett, Bausch, Apotex, Heritage and Heritage’s parent company Emcure now total nearly $500 million, the release says.
Other states settled with Mylan on their own. North Carolina announced $11 million on April 30, 2026. Attorney General Jeff Jackson said, “They used their control of the market to keep competitors out and drive the price up.” The State Health Plan and North Carolina Medicaid will each receive $4.2 million.
North Carolina’s release puts a number on the price climb: a two-pack cost about $100 in 2007 and about $600 by 2016. Mylan also agreed to raise the co-pay coupon for its authorized generic EpiPen from $25 to $40, the one term in these deals that lowers a patient’s out-of-pocket cost directly.
Maryland’s $4.5 million settlement, announced May 4, 2026, followed the same pattern. Attorney General Anthony G. Brown said, “Mylan has cornered the market on this lifesaving medication and driven up costs for Maryland families.” Maryland’s money goes to the state, and it can support consumer protection and antitrust enforcement.
Three states, three ways to spend the money
Connecticut took money and pens, North Carolina took refunds for two public health programs, and Maryland took funds for enforcement. In none of the three announcements does cash reach an individual buyer. The settlements resolve government claims, and the releases describe no process for a private purchaser to seek repayment.
That matters for households that bought EpiPens as parents of allergic children or as adult patients. The price history in the North Carolina release, from about $100 to about $600 for a two-pack, describes what those buyers faced. The state deals recover public money and supply free pens to clinics, and they leave private out-of-pocket costs where they were.
The 10,000 free pens are the only part of the Connecticut deal that moves directly to patients, and they travel through health centers, so access depends on where a person gets care. For everyone else the settlement is a reminder of scale: a product that once brought in close to $1 billion a year still sells about $469 million a year. Mylan, which denies wrongdoing, paid $8 million to close out Connecticut’s claims.
Carrying an EpiPen and watching the cost?
A two-pack that cost about $100 in 2007 and about $600 by 2016 shows how fast one line in a household budget can move, and the state settlements send their money to governments rather than to the families who paid. Costs like that sit inside a retirement budget alongside Medicare, taxes and the house.
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This article was produced with AI assistance and edited for accuracy against the sources linked above.
