Rockford sues pharmaceutical company over price of drug

ROCKFORD, Ill. (AP) - Officials in Rockford in northern Illinois are suing in federal court a pharmaceutical company they say forced the city to pay $500,000 for a specialty drug by cornering the market and then dramatically increasing its cost.

The (Rockford) Register Star reports (http://bit.ly/2nPYuRC ) that Rockford seeks to recover what it calls "inflated drug payments" the city made for a drug to treat two infants.

In January, Mallinckrodt ARD Inc. agreed to pay $100 million to settle Federal Trade Commission charges that accused the company of illegally maintaining a monopoly on the drug Acthar that's used to treat infants for a seizure disorder.

The FTC said the company - formerly known as Questcor Pharmaceuticals Inc. - acquired the U.S. rights to a competitor's drug to monopolize the market and raised the price.

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Information from: Rockford Register Star, http://www.rrstar.com