DRUGS/PHARMA/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “Officials in multiple U.S. states are seeking to substantially expand a lawsuit accusing generic-drug companies of colluding to fix prices, including new allegations that high-ranking executives at two companies were directly involved.
Attorneys general in 45 states plus the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico filed a motion in federal court in Philadelphia on Tuesday [10-31-17] proposing to add several more generic-drug companies as defendants in the lawsuit, and to expand the number of drugs at issue to 15 from two.
The attorneys general, including Connecticut’s George Jepsen, originally filed a lawsuit in December against six companies including Heritage Pharmaceuticals Inc. and units of Mylan NV and Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. The original lawsuit alleged that the companies conspired to manipulate prices for doxycycline hyclate, an antibiotic, and glyburide, used in the treatment of diabetes.
Mylan and Teva said they knew of no evidence of wrongdoing, and Heritage said it fired two executives last year after an internal investigation found serious misconduct related to the allegations.”
-Peter Loftus, “States Expand Price-Fixing Accusations Against Generic Drug Companies,” The Wall Street Journal online, Oct. 31, 2017 04:42pm