A federal judge has rejected a motion by several drugmakers to dismiss key claims in an ongoing generic drug price-fixing lawsuit led by Connecticut Attorney General William Tong. The decision, issued by U.S. District Judge Michael P. Shea, allows the case to proceed and preserves allegations of a broad conspiracy among generic drug manufacturers.
Connecticut is at the forefront of three major antitrust lawsuits involving nearly all states and territories. The first complaint, filed in 2016, targeted Heritage Pharmaceuticals and 17 other companies over 15 generic drugs. A second complaint was filed in 2019 against Teva Pharmaceuticals and 19 other large generic drugmakers, naming 16 senior executives as defendants. The third case, which will be tried first, centers on alleged collusion involving 80 topical generic drugs and includes 26 corporate defendants and 10 individuals.
The lawsuits allege that the companies conspired to inflate prices, limit competition, and restrain trade for generic drugs sold across the United States. These actions are said to have affected health insurance markets, government healthcare programs such as Medicare and Medicaid, and consumers who paid higher prices for prescription medications.
In the most recent development, defendants in the third case requested summary judgment to dismiss claims related to an overarching conspiracy connecting multiple drugs and defendants. Judge Shea denied this request, stating: “[t]he States … marshaled a substantial bulk of evidence to support [their] allegations,” adding that “a reasonable juror could infer that sharing information with competitors, providing assurances that a generic drug maker would follow price increases, and refraining from poaching customers were widespread practices in the markets for the Drugs at Issue.”
Attorney General Tong commented on the ruling: “The drugmakers have sought to chip away at our case piece by piece, but this latest ruling preserves our claims and reflects the strength of our case heading into the first trial in Connecticut. Generic drug manufacturers engaged in a brazen, industrywide conspiracy to fix prices and allocate market share for medicines we rely on every day. Our case seeks to hold them accountable and restore fairness to this broken system.”
Connecticut and its coalition partners have already reached settlements with several executives and companies involved in the cases. Seven pharmaceutical executives have agreed to settlements. Companies Apotex and Heritage have also settled for $39.1 million and $10 million respectively.
Consumers who purchased certain generic prescription drugs between May 2009 and December 2019 may be eligible for compensation through these settlements. Information about eligibility is available by calling 1-866-290-0182 (Toll-Free), emailing info@AGGenericDrugs.com or visiting www.AGGenericDrugs.com.
Assistant Attorney General Cara Moody co-led the drafting of Connecticut’s defense along with Assistant Attorneys General Alex Frisbee, Kyle Ainsworth, Rose Levine, Paralegal Specialist Gaile Colaresi, under Deputy Associate Attorney General Nicole Demers.