Teva Pharmaceutical Industries
Generic price-fixing, Copaxone kickbacks and opioid liability
Teva, headquartered in Israel, is the largest generic drug manufacturer in the United States. It was indicted on criminal price-fixing charges, named as the lead defendant in a sweeping state-led generic cartel lawsuit, paid $425 million over alleged kickbacks for its multiple sclerosis drug Copaxone, and agreed to pay up to $4.25 billion in a nationwide opioid settlement.
Questions
Why is Teva considered a controversial pharmaceutical company?
The largest generic drug manufacturer in the US was criminally indicted for price-fixing, is the lead defendant in a state cartel lawsuit covering more than 100 drugs, paid $425 million over Copaxone kickbacks, and settled opioid claims for up to $4.25 billion.
Teva's controversies are unusually severe for a generics company, a segment usually associated with lowering prices. Federal prosecutors charged Teva's US arm with three criminal counts of conspiring with competitors to fix prices, rig bids and allocate customers; it resolved them through a deferred prosecution agreement that included a $225 million criminal penalty, the largest to date for a domestic antitrust cartel.
Q2What did Teva admit in the criminal price-fixing case?
Teva admitted agreeing with competitors not to bid for certain customers for three generic drugs — pravastatin, clotrimazole and tobramycin — and paid a $225 million criminal penalty while divesting its US pravastatin business.
A federal grand jury indicted Teva USA in August 2020 on three counts of Sherman Act violations, covering drugs including pravastatin, carbamazepine, clotrimazole, etodolac, fluocinonide, warfarin, nadolol, temozolomide and tobramycin. In August 2023 Teva entered a three-year deferred prosecution agreement. It admitted that in three instances between 2013 and 2015 it agreed with competitors not to bid to supply a customer with pravastatin, clotrimazole and tobramycin respectively.
Q3What do the state attorneys general allege about Teva?
A coalition of 40-plus states filed in 2019 naming Teva as lead defendant, alleging coordinated price increases of over 1,000% on some drugs, arranged through industry dinners and golf outings, with executives using phrases like "fair share" and "playing nice in the sandbox."
In May 2019 a coalition led by Connecticut filed a complaint naming Teva as the lead defendant among 20 companies and 15 individual executives in an alleged conspiracy covering more than 100 generic drugs. The states allege coordinated price increases that in some cases exceeded 1,000%, arranged through industry dinners, "girls nights out", golf outings, calls and texts.
Q4What was the Copaxone kickback case?
The DOJ alleged Teva paid hundreds of millions through charitable foundations to cover Medicare copays for Copaxone while raising its price at more than 19 times the rate of inflation — resolving the case for $425 million in 2024.
Copaxone is Teva's branded multiple sclerosis drug. In 2020 the Justice Department sued Teva, alleging that from 2006 to 2017 it paid Medicare patients' copays for Copaxone through two charitable foundations and a specialty pharmacy while steadily raising the drug's price. The then US Attorney said Teva paid hundreds of millions in kickbacks while raising Copaxone's price at a rate over 19 times the rate of inflation. Teva allegedly gave the foundations more than $350 million.
Q5Why do copay charity arrangements matter?
When a manufacturer funds a charity that in practice only covers copays for its own drug, Medicare still pays the full list price while the patient feels no cost — an arrangement prosecutors call an illegal kickback that has generated more than $1 billion in DOJ collections since 2017.
Medicare Part D requires patients to pay part of the cost of their drugs, which is intended to make them and their doctors sensitive to price. When a manufacturer funds a charity that in practice covers copays only for its own drug, the patient no longer feels the price, while Medicare still pays the manufacturer's rising list price. The Justice Department argues this is an illegal kickback because it induces purchases paid for by a federal programme.
Q6What was Teva's role in the opioid crisis?
Teva sold branded rapid-onset fentanyl products and generic opioids, was found responsible by a New York jury for contributing to the state's crisis, and in 2023 finalised a nationwide settlement of up to $4.25 billion — including $1.2 billion in generic Narcan.
Teva sold branded fentanyl products Actiq and Fentora, approved for cancer pain, and generic opioids including oxycodone. States alleged Teva promoted rapid-onset fentanyl products for non-cancer patients, deceptively marketed opioids by overstating benefits and downplaying addiction risk, including by promoting the idea that signs of addiction were "pseudoaddiction" to be treated with more opioids, and failed to monitor suspicious orders through its distributor Anda.
Q7Has Teva faced pay-for-delay allegations?
Yes — Teva was co-defendant with Gilead in a $3.6 billion antitrust case over a 2014 settlement that allegedly delayed generic HIV drugs, but a June 2023 federal jury found both companies not liable.
Yes, though it prevailed at trial. Teva was a co-defendant with Gilead in a $3.6 billion antitrust case alleging that a 2014 patent settlement delayed generic versions of the HIV drugs Truvada and Atripla. The plaintiffs claimed Teva had effectively received a reverse payment to delay entry.
Q8How has Teva responded to these controversies?
Teva typically settles civil claims without admitting liability, presents admitted conduct as isolated, and argues that settlements let it move forward — while critics note the state civil case alleging broad executive-level collusion remains unresolved.
Teva's typical response has been to settle civil claims without admitting liability, to contest allegations it considers unfounded, and to present conduct it has admitted as isolated. On the criminal price-fixing charges, Teva said the conduct was carried out by a single former employee between 2013 and 2015. On Copaxone, it maintained that donations helped patients. On opioids, it said the settlement was in its best interest to put the cases behind it.
Q9How much is Teva paying, and over what timeframe?
Teva's major settlements run to the end of the decade: $225 million over five years on the criminal case, $450 million over six years for Copaxone, and opioid payments of roughly $364–$418 million per year through 2027 — all structured around its ability to pay.
Teva's major settlements are paid in instalments stretching to the end of the decade. Under the criminal deferred prosecution agreement, it pays $225 million in $22.5 million instalments each year from 2024 to 2027 and $135 million in 2028. The $425 million Copaxone settlement is paid over six years: $19 million in late 2024, $34 million in 2025, $49 million in each of 2026 and 2027, $99 million in 2028 and $175 million in 2029.
Q10What does Teva's generic Narcan commitment involve?
As part of its opioid settlement, Teva agreed to supply up to $1.2 billion of generic naloxone nasal spray over ten years — or states could elect $240 million in cash instead, at 20% of the wholesale value.
As part of its opioid settlement, Teva agreed to supply up to $1.2 billion of its generic version of Narcan, the naloxone nasal spray used to reverse opioid overdoses, valued at wholesale acquisition cost, over ten years. States could instead elect to receive cash at 20% of the wholesale value, or $240 million in total, in lieu of product.
Q11What should I watch for next with Teva?
The most significant pending issue is the state generic price-fixing trial expected in Hartford in late 2026 — with Teva as lead defendant — plus the criminal deferred prosecution agreement running through 2028.
The most significant pending issue is the state attorneys general's generic price-fixing litigation, in which Teva is the lead defendant and which could go to trial in late 2026. Several co-defendants have already settled, including Sandoz, which agreed in August 2026 to pay about $469 million, and Apotex, Heritage, Lannett and Bausch.