Maine Attorney General Aaron Frey on Thursday joined a coalition of 45 states and territories seeking court approval of settlements with three generic drug makers over allegations that they colluded to artificially inflate prices and reduce competition.
Under the settlement, Ascend Laboratories will pay $400,000 to the states and Mayne Pharma will pay $650,000. Settlement from the third company, Citron Pharma, “only includes non-monetary terms” because it has ceased operations, Frey’s office said in a news release.
The companies also each agreed to “meaningful injunctive terms including a series of internal reforms to ensure fair competition and compliance with antitrust laws,” AG’s office said.
Connecticut is leading a coalition of most U.S. states and territories in a series of antitrust cases, dating to 2016. The latest settlements come as the states prepare for the first trial to be held in Hartford, Connecticut, next February.
The states previously reached settlements with Sandoz, Glenmark, Lannett, Bausch, Apotex, Heritage, and Heritage’s parent company, Emcure, totaling $496.5 million.
The cases stem from investigations based on evidence from cooperating witnesses “at the core of the conspiracies,” along with a database of more than 20 million documents, and a phone records database containing millions of call records.
According to the AG’s office, the complaints lay out “an interconnected web of competing industry executives that 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.”
“Defendants use[d] terms like ‘fair share,’ ‘playing nice in the sandbox,’ and ‘responsible competitor’ to describe how they unlawfully discouraged competition, raised prices, and enforced an ingrained culture of collusion,” the AG’s office said.
If you bought a generic prescription drug between May 2009 and December 2019, you may be eligible for compensation. To determine your eligibility, call 866-290-0182, email info@AGGenericDrugs.com or visit AGGenericDrugs.com. You can submit a claim for compensation here.
States that are not party to the case are: Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Hawaii, Louisiana, Missouri and Texas.
