US: Heritage Pharmaceuticals admits to price fixing and fined

Heritage Pharmaceuticals, a generic pharmaceutical company headquartered in Eatontown, New Jersey, was charged for conspiring with its competitors to fix prices, rig bids, and allocate customers, the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced Friday, May 31.

According to a one-count felony charge filed May 30 in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, from about April 2014 until at least December 2015, Heritage participated in a criminal antitrust conspiracy with other companies and individuals engaged in the production and sale of generic pharmaceuticals, a purpose of which was to fix prices, rig bids, and allocate customers for glyburide, a medicine used to treat diabetes.

The Antitrust Division of the DOJ also announced a deferred prosecution agreement resolving the charge, under which Heritage admits that it conspired to fix prices, rig bids, and allocate customers for glyburide.

“American consumers have the right to generic drugs sold at prices set by competition, not collusion,” said Assistant Attorney General Makan Delrahim of the Antitrust Division.  “It is particularly galling that, when healthcare prices in the United States are already high, certain generic pharmaceutical companies and executives engaged in collusive conduct at the expense of individuals who depend on critical medications.  Heritage and its co-conspirators cheated and exploited vulnerable American patients to pad their bottom line.”

Delrahim continued, “this resolution — requiring an admission of guilt, a criminal penalty, and cooperation in the ongoing investigation — sends a clear message to generic pharmaceutical companies and their executives that this conduct will not be tolerated.  The Division and its law enforcement partners, including the FBI and the US Postal Service Office of Inspector General, will continue to hold companies and individuals accountable for collusion that undermines the integrity of the market for drugs.”