Attorney General Ellison announces $49M in settlements in generic drug price-fixing litigation

Heritage Pharmaceuticals and Apotex to cooperate in ongoing 50-state antitrust litigation against generic-drug companies

Minnesotans who bought certain generic prescription drugs in the United States between 2010 and 2018 could be eligible for compensation

November 4, 2024 (SAINT PAUL) – Attorney General Ellison joined a bipartisan coalition of 50 states and territories announcing two significant cooperation agreements and settlements with Heritage Pharmaceuticals and Apotex totaling $49.1 million. These agreements resolve allegations that both companies engaged in widespread, long-running conspiracies to artificially inflate and manipulate prices, reduce competition, and unreasonably restrain trade with regard to numerous generic prescription drugs. The majority of the funds from the settlements will be used to compensate individuals and government agencies that overpaid for generic medications and a smaller portion will cover the costs of the litigation.

As part of their settlement agreements, both companies have agreed to cooperate in the ongoing multistate litigation against 30 corporate defendants and 25 individual executives. Both companies have further agreed to a series of internal reforms to ensure fair competition and compliance with antitrust laws. A motion for preliminary approval of the $10 million settlement with Heritage was filed today in the United States District Court for the District of Connecticut in Hartford. A settlement with Apotex for $39.1 million is contingent upon obtaining signatures from all necessary states and territories and will be finalized and filed in the U.S. District Court in the near future.

The settlements come as the coalition of attorneys general prepares for the first trial to be held in Hartford, Connecticut.

If you purchased a generic prescription drug manufactured by either Heritage or Apotex between 2010 and 2018, you may be eligible for compensation. To determine your eligibility, call 1-866-290-0182 (Toll-Free), email info@AGGenericDrugs.com or visit www.AGGenericDrugs.com.

“Minnesotans want to know why the cost of prescription drugs keeps going up. Well, look no further than the conspiracy of corporations and executives scheming to reduce competition, raise prices, and line their pockets at your expense,” said Attorney General Ellison. “I am pleased that today’s settlements will return money to the people of Minnesota, and that our cooperation agreements will make it easier to hold the rest of the conspirators accountable.”

Background on the Multistate Litigation

The coalition working on this multistate litigation, including the attorneys general from nearly all states and territories, has filed three lawsuits.

The complaints all stem from a series of investigations built on evidence from several cooperating witnesses at the core of the different conspiracies, a massive document database of over 20 million documents, and a phone records database containing millions of detailed call records and contact information for over 600 individuals involved in sales and pricing in the generics industry. Each complaint addresses a different set of drugs and defendants and lays out an interconnected web of industry executives where competitors met with each other during industry dinners, "girls nights out", lunches, cocktail parties, golf outings and communicated via frequent telephone calls, emails and text messages that sowed the seeds for their illegal agreements.

Throughout the complaints, defendants use terms like "fair share," "playing nice in the sandbox," and "responsible competitor" to describe how they unlawfully discouraged competition, raised prices, and enforced an ingrained culture of collusion. Among the records obtained by the States is a two-volume notebook containing the contemporaneous notes of one of the States’ cooperators memorializing his discussions during phone calls with competitors and internal company meetings over a period of several years.

The first complaint included Heritage and 17 other corporate Defendants, two individual Defendants, and 15 generic drugs. Two former executives from Heritage Pharmaceuticals, Jeffery Glazer and Jason Malek, have since entered into settlement agreements and are cooperating. The second complaint was filed in 2019 against Teva Pharmaceuticals and 19 of the nation’s largest generic drug manufacturers. The complaint names 16 individual senior executive Defendants. The third complaint, to be tried first, focuses on 80 topical generic drugs that account for billions of dollars of sales in the United States and names 26 corporate defendants and 10 individual defendants. Six additional pharmaceutical executives have entered into settlement agreements with the States and have been cooperating to support the States’ claims in all three cases.

Joining Minnesota in today’s settlements and agreements are Connecticut, which is leading the litigation, and Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Northern Mariana Islands, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, U.S. Virgin Islands, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming, and Puerto Rico.

Attorney General Ellison encourages Minnesota consumers and businesses who wish to report concerns about anticompetitive business practices to submit a report online via the Antitrust Report Form. Minnesotans can also call the Attorney General’s Office at (651) 296-3353 (Metro area), (800) 657-3787 (Greater Minnesota), or (800) 627-3529 (Minnesota Relay).