Mylan's stock was hammered last week after the company reported weak first quarter results and provided no update on the strategic review which was announced by its CEO ten months ago.
Sales were down 6% year over year in the major markets and Mylan is still undertaking remediation of a major US manufacturing plant which has fallen foul of the FDA.
But, as analysts are pointing out, the company’s problems extend beyond this.
Analysts are unimpressed with a securities filing that details a deal struck with the company by Mylan chairman, Robert Coury. Under the deal, Coury is owed 70 hours of personal aircraft use per year, or up to $1.5 million in cash for unused time. Last year, he used the aircraft for 26.5 hours and therefore pocketed a payment of $947,524 for the remainder.
The same filing reveals that Mylan has extended the contract under which a Coury family company has been paid since 1995 for employee benefits services. The family company which receives the payments is run by the Chairman's brothers and one of his sons.
Mylan has also been dealing with an extended product recall of one of its medications. A global recall of the blood pressure medication, valsartan, was announced after impurities considered likely to be carcinogenic were discovered. Mylan’s recall of drugs containing the tainted API, which it manufactures in India, began in November. Teva soon followed with a recall of its valsartan products which also contain Mylan’s contaminated API. In December Mylan expanded its recall and in February Pfizer Japan announced that it was recalling a blood pressure combination drug because it also contained Myan’s tainted API. The issue is ongoing.
Then there’s the EpiPen scandal, which is still playing out. In March, a judge ruled that Mylan must face a class action lawsuit relating to EpiPen, which alleges violation of antitrust laws through price inflation and anticompetitive practices.
Mylan is also one of the opioid manufacturers which has been caught up in the net of over a thousand class action lawsuits which have been filed in both the United States and Canada.
But perhaps most serious for Mylan is the generics price-fixing lawsuit it is facing, which was first filed in 2016. More details emerged in February about the role of Mylan President, Rajiv Malik in the alleged market-fixing. Last Friday, the case widened when multiple current and former executives of generics companies were sued by more than 40 states. Defendants named include Malik and Mylan’s VP of Sales, James Nesta. The original lawsuit has now been broadened to include the alleged price-fixing of more than 100 drugs. Analysts are predicting that fines in this case could top $2 billion. The Department of Justice has also said this month that it will be filing charges, following its criminal investigation. One of the individuals that it has had in its sights is Rajiv Malik. Mylan, of course, denies any wrong-doing.
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