US Department of Justice charges Teva with generic price fixing
pharmafile | August 26, 2020 | News story | Research and Development | Department of Justice, Teva Pharmaceuticals
The US Department of Justice (DOJ) has charged Teva Pharmaceuticals with conspiracy to fix the price of its generic drugs.
This comes after the company refused to settle with the DOJ, vowing to vigorously fight the charges. It was the seventh drugmaker to be charged in a wide-ranging investigation into three separate conspiracies. Companies including Sandoz, Taro Pharmaceuticals and Apotex all admitted their roles in the conspiracies and paid damages that totalled almost $425 million.
The charges Teva faces are accusations of fixing its generics, including pravastatin, which controls cholesterol and reduces the risk of heart attack and stroke, as well as drugs used for arthritis, seizures, pain, skin conditions, brain cancer, and cystic fibrosis. The company is also accused of a conspiracy to rig bids and allocate customers for generic drugs in schemes that ran from May 2013 to December 2015.
Makan Delrahim, Assistant Attorney General of the DOJ’s antitrust division, said: “Today’s charge reaffirms that no company is too big to be prosecuted for its role in conspiracies that led to substantially higher prices for generic drugs relied on by millions of Americans.”
James A Dawson, Acting Assistant Director in charge of the FBI’s Washington Field Office, also commented on the charges and said: “Price fixing and bid rigging is a crime, and the American people, who rely on these drugs to treat serious ailments, are the ones who pay the price when companies like Teva conspire to raise their costs.”
Teva said it was disappointed in the government proceeding with the case, adding that its own internal investigation concluded that Teva did not participate in price fixing.
Conor Kavanagh
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