Teva Pharmaceuticals USA, Inc. and Glenmark Pharmaceuticals Inc., USA have agreed to the terms demanded by the Department of Justice to resolve price-fixing charges against the companies, a scheme that affected the prices of several critical generic drugs.
According to the DOJ, these are the first resolutions in this litigation that require companies to divest their pravastatin-related products. Pravastatin is a widely used cholesterol treatment medicine.
- Israel-based Teva must pay $225 million in what DOJ says is the largest ever against a domestic antitrust cartel.
- Teva also must donate $50 million in other drugs to people in need, drugs also affected by the scheme. These drugs are the antifungal clotrimazole (sold by Bayer under the brand name Lotrimin), and the antibiotic, tobramycin.
- Glenmark, based in India, must pay $30 million.
- Prior defendants: Apotex Inc. admitted its role in this conspiracy and agreed to pay a $24.1 million penalty in May 2020. Taro Pharmaceuticals U.S.A. Inc., and its former executive Ara Aprahamian Taro admitted to its role in the conspiracy. Taro was penalized $205.7 million in July 2020. Aprahamian is awaiting trial. Sandoz Inc. admitted to its role in fixing the price of cystic fibrosis medicine tobramycin and other treatments and was penalized $195 million. A former Sandoz executive pleaded guilty.
Additional Reading
See Tim LaComb‘s recent post on activity in another generic drug matter:
Agencies’ Amgen Settlement Won’t Protect Competition in the Drug Industry
Our previous posts on Teva:
EC Investigating Teva for Delaying and Disparaging Competing MS Drug by Joy M. Sidhwa
EC Says Teva’s Conduct Inflates Public Healthcare Spending
Other posts on generic drugs:
Judge Approves $75M Settlement of Generic Drug Antitrust Class Action
Consumers and States Support Reviving Generic Drug Antitrust Case Against Abbvie
FTC: Amgen/Horizon Deal Would Cement Monopoly for Treatment of Two Diseases