Big Pharma Companies Facing Another Antitrust Class Action

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A proposed class action alleges a who’s who of major pharmaceutical companies engaged in a conspiracy to fix the prices of certain generic drugs, namely cholesterol-lowering pravastatin sodium products. Filed in Pennsylvania by the Laborers International Union of North American Local 35 Health Care Fund, the 74-page complaint claims the below defendants engaged in unlawful conspiratorial activities that resulted in artificial, sharp price increases for inexpensive, widely used generics: 

The price increases stemming from the defendants’ collusion, the lawsuit argues, put human lives at risk since so many individuals with high cholesterol depend on the generic pravastatin sodium drugs to handle their conditions.

The lawsuit asserts that the defendants control the market for generic pravastatin sodium. Although the defendants first tried to blame the price spikes for the generics on supply disruptions, industry experts called their bluff, citing the defendants’ current financial landscapes and numerous factors that make the generic pravastatin market ripe for collusion.

Another eye-opening event mentioned in the complaint may be a little harder for the defendants to explain away:

“As noted in the charts above, the price hikes in pravastatin sodium commenced in the fourth quarter of 2013. The GPhA 2013 Annual Meeting was held in Orlando, Florida on February 19-21, 2013. Among those in attendance were representatives of Apotex, Dr. Reddy's, Glenmark, Mylan, Lupin, Sandoz, Teva and Zydus,” the lawsuit notes.

Several of the defendants are currently under investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice.