Utah Consumers Claim Compensation Inflated Generic Drugs

A coalition of Utah and 47 other states and territories reached settlements totaling approximately $96.5 million with six generic drug manufacturers: Glenmark, Lannett, Bausch, Apotex, Heritage, and Heritage's parent company Emcure. The U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut granted preliminary approval to the distribution plan on September 8. The settling companies have not admitted wrongdoing. The compensation period covers purchases of certain generic drugs between May 2009 and December 2019, and the claim deadline is March 8, 2027. The underlying state-coalition litigation spans four complaints filed between 2016 and the present. The first complaint, filed in 2016, names Heritage, 17 other companies, and two individual executives over 15 generic drugs. The second complaint, filed in 2019, targets Teva Pharmaceuticals and 21 other major generic manufacturers along with 16 senior executives. The third complaint covers 80 topical generic drugs representing billions of dollars in U.S. sales, names 26 companies and 10 individuals, and is scheduled to be tried first. The fourth complaint alleges that Novartis AG, Sandoz Group AG, and Sandoz AG are liable for Sandoz's alleged conduct and for fraudulently transferring assets. The states allege across all four complaints that competing executives met and communicated regularly to reach illegal price-fixing agreements. According to the complaints, defendants used phrases such as 'fair share,' 'playing nice in the sandbox,' and 'responsible competitor' to suppress competition and enforce a culture of collusion. The states built their cases on testimony from cooperating witnesses, millions of documents, and an extensive phone record database. Seven pharmaceutical executives are cooperating with the states. The states allege the defendants violated federal and state antitrust and consumer protection laws by conspiring to inflate generic drug prices.