US: Over 39 states join generic drug price-fixing suit

Hawaii was the latests in 39 other US states to join in a federal antitrust lawsuit over inflated drug prices, state Attorney General Doug Chin announced on Friday.

The lawsuit, which was filed in federal court on Thursday, alleges that six generic drugmakers entered into illegal conspiracies to unreasonable restrain trade, artificially inflated prices and reduce competition in the US for two generic drugs: doxycycline hyclate delayed release, an antibiotic, and glyburide, a diabetes medication.

Thursday’s filing amends a lawsuit initially filled in December. Hawaii was also part of the initial lawsuit, which included a total of 20 states. The amended complaint alleges violations of state antitrust laws and state consumer protection laws. It further alleges the six drugmakers of routinely coordinating 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 messaging.

The six drug companies named as defendants in the lawsuit are Heritage Pharmaceuticals, Aurobindo Pharma USA, Citron Pharma, Mayne Pharma, Mylan Pharmaceuticals, and Teva Pharmaceuticals.

The state of Connecticut began investigating the reasons behind suspicious price increases of certain generic pharmaceuticals in 2014. The investigation, which is still ongoing into other generic drugs, uncovered evidence of a well-document and long-running conspiracy to fix prices and allocate markets for the drugs, according to a statement.

Full Content: Palm Beach Post

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