COLUMBUS, Ohio — Consumers who overpaid for certain generic prescription drugs may now be eligible for compensation following a $49.1 million settlement involving two pharmaceutical manufacturers, Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost announced Wednesday. But the settlement is not just limited to people living in the Buckeye State.
The settlement involves several states including Ohio, West Virginia and Pennsylvania and resolves allegations that Apotex of Toronto, Canada and Heritage Pharmaceuticals of Eatontown, New Jersey, engaged in a scheme to artificially inflate drug prices, manipulate markets, and limit competition for various generic prescription drugs.
Under the settlement terms, Heritage Pharmaceuticals will pay $10 million, while Apotex will contribute $39.1 million. The lawsuit was originally filed on Dec. 15, 2016, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut in Hartford.
“This was a conspiracy to cheat the system – we won’t tolerate collusion that inflates drug prices and harms Ohioans who rely on affordable medication,” said Yost. “We are working to restore fair competition and hold wrongdoers accountable.”
Yost joined a coalition of nearly all states and territories in filing three major antitrust complaints against 30 corporate defendants and 25 individual executives.
- The first complaint, filed in 2016, involved Heritage Pharmaceuticals, Apotex, and 16 other corporate defendants, along with two individual executives and 15 generic drugs. Former Heritage executives Jeffery Glazer and Jason Malek have since settled and are cooperating with authorities.
- The second complaint, filed in 2019, targeted Teva Pharmaceuticals, Apotex, and 18 of the nation’s largest generic drug manufacturers, naming 16 senior executives.
- The third complaint, filed in 2020, addressed price-fixing for 80 topical generic drugs, which represent billions of dollars in U.S. sales. This case names 26 corporate defendants and 10 individual defendants, six of whom have already settled and are assisting in the litigation.
The lawsuits rely on evidence from multiple cooperating witnesses, more than 20 million documents, and millions of phone records detailing communications among over 600 sales and pricing executives within the generic drug industry. Investigators uncovered secret meetings where executives allegedly used coded language like “fair share,” “playing nice in the sandbox,” and “responsible competitor” to conceal their illegal price-fixing agreements.
A key piece of evidence is a two-volume notebook maintained by a cooperating witness, documenting years of discussions and meetings about price-fixing schemes.
Proposed settlements have been reached in consumer protection and antitrust lawsuits filed by state attorneys general from nearly all U.S. states, commonwealths, and territories, as well as by numerous individual consumers and other end-payers. These lawsuits allege that the implicated drug manufacturers violated federal and state antitrust laws, consumer protection statutes, and other legal provisions by conspiring to fix prices for various generic prescription drugs.
The lawsuits do not question the safety or effectiveness of the drugs but allege that purchasers, including consumers and other end-payers, overpaid due to artificially inflated prices.
Consumers who purchased specific generic prescription drugs between May 2009 and December 2019 may be eligible for compensation. Individuals can check their eligibility by visiting www.AGGenericDrugs.com, calling 1-866-290-0182 (toll-free), or emailing info@AGGenericDrugs.com.
