November 25, 2024 –
Several states have reached a settlement with two pharmaceutical companies accused of jacking up prices in the generic drug market.
The Kansas Attorney General’s Office says anyone who purchased a generic drug manufactured by Heritage Pharmaceuticals or Apotex between 2010 and 2018 could be eligible for compensation.
Connecticut led 50 states and territories, including Kansas, in a lawsuit against the two companies for deliberately reducing competition and inflating prices in the market. Multiple lawsuits dating back to 2016 were consolidated into a single effort in 2019.
Attorney General Kris Kobach joined a coalition of 50 states and territories announcing two significant cooperation agreements and settlements with Heritage Pharmaceuticals and Apotex. The drug companies agreed to settlements totaling $49.1 million to resolve allegations that both engaged in widespread, long-running conspiracies to price-fix generic drugs. The companies artificially inflated and manipulated prices, reduced competition, and unreasonably restrained trade with regard to numerous generic prescription drugs. As part of the settlement agreements, both companies have agreed to cooperate in ongoing multistate litigations led by Connecticut against 30 corporate defendants and 25 individual executives.
The cases all stem from a series of investigations built on evidence from several cooperating witnesses at the core of the different conspiracies, a massive document database of over 20 million documents, and a phone records database containing millions of call detail records and contact information for over 600 sales and pricing individuals in the generics industry. Each complaint addresses a different set of drugs and defendants and lays out an interconnected web of industry executives where these competitors met with each other during industry dinners, “girls nights out”, lunches, cocktail parties, golf outings and communicated via frequent telephone calls, emails and text messages that sowed the seeds for their illegal agreements.
The Kansas Attorney General’s Office says a $39.1 million settlement with Apotex just needs final signatures from the involved states and territories, while a $10 million deal with Heritage awaits preliminary approval in federal court.
Anyone who thinks they may qualify for payment can call the toll-free line at 1-866-290-0182, email info@AGGenericDrugs.com check online at AGGenericDrugs.com.
By Bryan Grabauskas, 13WIBW
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