What is the generic drug price-fixing scandal?
Federal criminal cases and state civil suits allege that manufacturers agreed to divide customers and coordinate price increases on 100+ common medicines — Teva is the lead defendant — with some increases exceeding 1,000%.
It is a set of federal criminal cases and state civil lawsuits alleging that generic manufacturers agreed not to compete, dividing up customers and coordinating price increases on common medicines. The state case, led by Connecticut, alleges a conspiracy involving more than 100 generic drugs, 20 corporate defendants and 15 individual executives, with Teva as the lead defendant, and price increases in some instances exceeding 1,000%. The states have filed three separate complaints; the first named Heritage and 17 other corporate defendants covering 15 drugs. The federal Justice Department prosecuted the conduct as criminal Sherman Act violations. Because generics are the drugs most Americans take, the alleged cartel affected a very wide range of patients and payers.