What is the lesson most people draw from Mallinckrodt?
Mallinckrodt shows that the most damaging pricing practices can involve old drugs, not new innovations — and that bankruptcy can be used more than once to limit what companies ultimately pay for mass harms.
Mallinckrodt is often cited as proof that some of the most damaging pricing practices involve old drugs, not new innovations. Acthar had been on the market for decades; its value to shareholders came from buying a monopoly, raising the price, neutralising a potential rival and, according to the government, understating what was owed to Medicaid. The opioid story adds a second lesson: that bankruptcy can limit what companies ultimately pay for mass harms, and can be used more than once.
Regulators did respond. The Medicaid rebate case ended with Mallinckrodt resetting Acthar's rebate so that state Medicaid programs receive 100% rebates on Acthar sales, and the FTC case forced a competing product to be licensed. Critics argue these remedies came only after years of high prices had already been paid.