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Dey L.P. Isn't Resting on its Laurels
Napa Valley Register, March 26, 2004
Ninety percent of Dey's revenues come from branded drug products such as inhalation solutions AccuNeb and DuoNeb, and 75 percent of the company's unit volume comes from generic pharmaceuticals.
On March 9, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office issued a patent covering AccuNeb, which was developed by Dey. AccuNeb is the only Food and Drug Administration-approved lower-concentration pharmaceutical approved for the treatment of asthma in children aged 2 to 12, the company's Web site says.
The respiratory products market has seen some new challenges in the past year. The FDA has questioned the packaging for inhalation drugs, has suggested that all drug doses carry bar codes and has joined the Environmental Protection Agency in removing some of the designations for certain inhaler products.
Such actions have required respiratory products firms to reconsider packaging and labeling, according to Gary Michaud, Dey's vice president of operations.
Not waiting around for FDA mandates, Dey is already taking steps to redesign its packaging and labeling, and to bring new products to market, Michaud said.
"We are putting a foil overwrap on all our products," Michaud said. "Another way we are adding value is through bar coding. We also have plans over the next year-and-a-half to begin providing customers who require it and request it individually overwrapped vials with bar codes.
These codes will have not only National Drug Codes, but also lot numbers and expiration dates."
Michaud said Dey is concerned about reducing medical errors. "It should help hospitals with billing and inventory control," he said.
Overcharging allegations
Efforts to reduce errors has not kept Dey out of the courts, however. Dey was recently named in a multimillion-dollar fraud suit filed by Ohio's attorney general alleging the company overcharged the state's Medicaid program.
On March 10, Dey denied the allegations, saying it would vigorously defend itself in court.
The suit filed in Hamilton County Court March 9 lists Dey as one of five drug companies that issued "false and misleading wholesale price and acquisition data" used by state agencies to pay for prescription drugs at inflated prices.
The lawsuit seeks unspecified damages and penalties to be determined at trial. Ohio Attorney General Jim Petro said the overcharges cost Ohio's $1 billion Medicaid prescription drug program "tens of millions of dollars."
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