West Virginia urges Justice Department to reject settlement with Mylan

West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey on Wednesday blasted a pending $465 million settlement between Mylan NV and the U.S. Justice Department over the misclassification of the EpiPen, saying it was "woefully deficient."

In a Nov. 2 letter to Attorney General Loretta Lynch, Morrisey said the amount likely fell short of how much the company owed Medicaid, and that Mylan should "not be allowed to receive a windfall after flagrantly defrauding the Medicaid Drug Rebate Program."

Spokeswomen for the U.S. Justice Department and Mylan did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Morrisey's letter came just a few weeks after Mylan announced a $465 million settlement with the Justice Department over charges it had underpaid U.S. government healthcare programs by misclassifying the EpiPen.

But the Justice Department has not acknowledged such a settlement, and department spokeswoman Nicole Navas declined earlier Wednesday to comment on any pending settlement.

Mylan has come under fire for hiking the price of the lifesaving allergy treatment to more than $600 for a package of two in less than a decade.

For years, the company had classified the allergy treatment as a generic drug instead of a branded one, resulting in smaller rebates to state and federal Medicaid programs.

The Medicaid rebate for a generic is 13 percent compared with a minimum 23.1 percent for a branded drug.

(Reporting by Sarah N. Lynch; Editing by Richard Chang)