(Updates with comments from AstraZenca's MedImmune, GlaxoSmithKline)
By Chad Bray
Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
NEW YORK -(Dow Jones)- Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal said Monday that he is probing allegations of price-fixing and preferential treatment in the distribution of the seasonal flu vaccine.
In a statement, Blumenthal said he sent letters to four manufacturers and nine distributors of flu vaccine, seeking information on the prices they're charging, on the rationale they are using to allocate supplies and on what steps can be taken to assure equitable distribution of limited vaccine supplies.
"I am asking vaccine makers and distributors to detail, prices, supply levels and distribution methods and criteria to guard against favoritism and gouging," Blumenthal said. "I will fight to assure no one makes a killing off the seasonal flu vaccine shortage - potentially endangering seniors and the sick - and everyone who needs a shot gets one."
Blumenthal said his office has received complaints of seasonal flu vaccines being offered at many times the normal price, as much as $100 a dose or higher and preferential treatment in distribution to large retailers.
His office also has received complaints that distributors and manufacturers are reneging on price agreements by demanding new, higher prices for already ordered doses, and distributors are buying back vaccine for resale at inflated prices, Blumenthal said.
The manufacturers include units of GlaxoSmithKline PLC (GSK), Sanofi-Aventis SA (SNY), AstraZeneca PLC (AZN) and CSL Ltd. (CSL.AU).
Sarah Alspach, a spokeswoman for GlaxoSmithKline, confirmed that a letter had been sent to the company's corporate headquarters in the U.K.
"We intend to fully cooperate with the attorney general's request for information, Alspach said. She noted the company's seasonal flu vaccine prices are publicly available on the U.S. Center for Disease Control's Web site.
A spokeswoman for CSL didn't immediately return phone calls seeking comment Monday.
A Sanofi spokeswoman said the company hadn't yet received the letter from Blumenthal's office and declined comment Monday.
"All of MedImmune's production goals for seasonal flu vaccine have been met and we completed manufacturing for our seasonal vaccine prior to any work we did on a vaccine for H1N1," said Karen Lancaster, a spokeswoman for AstraZeneca's MedImmune unit. "We started and ended the season with the same number in mind. We started the season with plans to manufacture 10 million doses and that's how many were made available."
Last month, Blumenthal asked Novartis AG (NVS) for information about the supply of seasonal flu vaccine it expected to make available to the Visiting Nurse Association, which represents nurse groups around the country that provide home health care.
In his announcement Monday, Blumenthal said Novartis has agreed to supply several Connecticut Visiting Nurse Associations with their full vaccine supply as well as to double its doses to national associations.
-By Chad Bray, Dow Jones Newswires; 212-227-2017; chad.bray@dowjones.com