US DOJ drops Viatris unit Mylan from industry-wide antitrust probe

(Reuters) -Viatris unit Mylan is no longer a subject of the U.S. Department of Justice's antitrust investigation into alleged price fixing in the generic drug industry, the parent company said on Tuesday.

Mylan and several major drugmakers such as Israel's Teva Pharmaceutical Industries and India's Sun Pharmaceutical Industries have been under the DOJ's scanner for more than eight years over alleged anticompetitive business practices in fixing prices of certain generic drugs.

Multiple states have also filed lawsuits against those companies for alleged antitrust behavior.

Formed by the merger of Mylan and Pfizer's Upjohn business in 2020, Viatris makes generic and branded drugs including erectile dysfunction treatment Viagra.

The investigation against Mylan was related to the pricing and marketing of its generic doxycycline antibiotic that is used to treat bacterial infections such as acne, pneumonia, lyme disease, chlamydia and syphilis.

There are many forms of doxycyline made by more than a dozen companies, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's database.

The DOJ has informed Viatris that it does not expect to take any further actions related to the pricing and sales of its generic drugs, the drugmaker said.

The statement from Viatris did not mention why Mylan was dropped from the probe.

The company said it would continue to defend itself against the remaining civil lawsuits related to the matter.

Shares of Pennsylvania-based Viatris were up 1% in premarket trading.

(Reporting by Christy Santhosh; Editing by Shilpi Majumdar and Devika Syamnath)