Pharma Companies Sued Over Alleged Pricing Conspiracy

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A lawsuit has been filed in Pennsylvania on behalf of a nationwide class against nine pharmaceutical companies and their subsidiaries claiming the companies conspired to fix prices of generic pravastatin sodium, a drug used to treat high cholesterol. According to the complaint, this drug is “an excellent candidate for cartelization” because consumers are medically dependent on it; as a result, they are forced to pay whatever price is offered to them by the defendants. The suit argues that the defendants artificially inflated prices of generic pravastatin sodium knowing that consumers had no choice but to pay their price.

According to the complaint, the U.S. Department of Justice began investigating this “conspiracy” beginning in 2014. Among those involved in the investigation were House Representative Elijah E. Cummings and Senator Bernie Sanders, who are believed to have sent warning letters to some of the defendants reporting that the price of pravastatin sodium had increased by an average of 573% between October 2013 and April 2014. They noted in the letters that “[t]hese price increases have a direct impact on patients’ ability to purchase their needed medications.”

The complaint cites violations of the Sherman Act and various state laws.