The company Mylan, which has been embroiled in a the very public EpiPen cost controversy, is the same one that last year failed an attempted hostile takeover of Perrigo, Allegan County’s largest employer.

Mylan is the manufacturer of the EpiPen which is used to treat severe allergic reactions. The price for popular drug and device has skyrocketed in the last year, but the company, based in Pennsylvania, has announced a generic form that would sell for a wholesale list price of $300 for a pack of two, half the price of the brand-name EpiPen.

The company also announced steps to increase financial assistance for the branded EpiPen, for both commercially insured and uninsured patients. The controversy, however, continues to rage. Critics have noted that even at $300, the generic would still be triple the price of the EpiPen in 2007, when Mylan acquired the product.

A majority (60 percent) of shareholders of Perrigo rejected Mylan’s hostile tender offer last year.

Perrigo employs about 4,000 people in West Michigan and it has a huge plant in Allegan, though its corporate headquarters is located in Dublin, Ireland.

The company since has laid off about 100 employees at its corporate offices located in Allegan and about 800 employees worldwide as a result of the hostile takeover attempt. Perrigo eliminated 800 jobs worldwide and buy back $2 billion of shares to thwart thehostile takeover bid by Mylan NV.

The company, with plants in Allegan and Holland, manufactures over-the-counter and generic drugs.