Twenty drug companies lead by Teva Pharmaceuticals were accused by another 44 U.S. States for illegally inflating drug prices. Prices rose by more than whooping 1,000% and the companies even tried to erode the market competition for drugs.
It was mainly the political arena which originated these actions. President Donald Trump and Senator Elizabeth Warren, all stood against this severely acclaimed issue. A 500-page lawsuit was filed in the U.S District Court of Connecticut. It alleged that these companies illegally influenced drug prices. They even conspired to divide the drug market in order to remove the market competition for drugs.
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In response, a Teva Pharmaceuticals’ representative said that all these charges were mere allegations. He even denied the company’s involvement in any illegal activity. He said the companies will fight the multistate lawsuit.
Sandoz, one of the 20 alleged companies, remained silent on this. The company did not respond quickly to an explanation request. The lawsuit claims that these companies took part in confidential and illegal agreements for the price-fixing and competition-erosion of the drugs.
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This situation got the hardest hit in 2012 which led to damaging price-fixing conspiracies. However, between July 2013 &January 2015, Teva and 19 others conspired to hike the prices of 86 medicines. This is one of the worst conspiracies in the history of the USA.
These drugs primarily included tablets, creams, ointments, capsules. It also included drugs for diabetes, High B.P, epilepsy, etc. For some drugs, the prices rose even above 1,000%. The lawsuit alleged 15 individuals as well, according to Gurbir Grewal, Attorney General of New Jersey. Five of these individuals and more than 10 alleged companies have their base in New Jersey.
The lawsuit demands the restoration of the legitimate drug prices and the market competition for drugs. Generic drugs are the best alternative to branded drugs. Hence, this restoration of prices will bring relief to the buyers and taxpayers by trillions of dollars/year.
Further, the lawsuit also said that many of the drugs’ prices escalated abnormally. Some even soared above 1000% causing damage to the consumers. The cost of the illegal profit of these companies was heavily burdened upon the consumers. They had to pay highly inflated prices for most of the pharmaceuticals’ generic drugs
A similar lawsuit filed in 2016 involved the Attorneys General of 45 U.S States and the District of Columbia. This case covered the involvement of more than twelve drug makers.
