Pa. joins 19 other states in pharmaceutical price-fixing suit
Pennsylvania Attorney General Bruce Beemer on Thursday joined 19 other state attorneys general in filing a federal lawsuit that alleges six pharmaceutical companies violated antitrust laws by conspiring to fix prices and allocate markets for various generic drugs.
According to a press release, Beemer said the alleged conduct reduced competition and led to artificially higher prices for consumers.
The lawsuit against Heritage Pharmaceuticals Inc., Aurobindo Pharma USA, Inc., Citron Pharma, LLC, Mayne Pharma (USA), Inc., Mylan Pharmaceuticals Inc. and Teva Pharmaceuticals USA, Inc. was filed under seal in the U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut.
“The conduct alleged in the lawsuit resulted in the commonwealth and consumers throughout the nation paying substantially higher prices for many generic pharmaceutical drugs,” Beemer said. “It is critical for our office to be a part of the effort to prevent similar activity that will undoubtedly have a negative impact on consumers.”
The lawsuit concerns two drugs – doxycycline hyclate delayed release, an antibiotic, and glyburide, an oral diabetes medication.
The states’ investigation, which is still ongoing as to a number of additional generic drugs, uncovered evidence of a broad, well-coordinated and long running series of conspiracies to fix prices and allocate markets for a number of generic pharmaceuticals in the United States.
In the lawsuit, the states allege that the misconduct was conceived and carried out by senior drug company executives and their subordinate marketing and sales executives.
The lawsuit further alleges that the defendants routinely coordinated their schemes through direct interaction with their competitors at industry trade shows, customer conferences and other events, as well as through direct email, phone and text message communications.
Generic drug sales in the United States were estimated at $74.5 billion in 2015.
Currently, the generic pharmaceutical industry accounts for approximately 88 percent of all prescriptions written in the country.
In addition to Pennsylvania and Connecticut, other plaintiff states in the lawsuit are Delaware, Florida, Hawaii, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada, New York, North Dakota, Ohio, Virginia and Washington.