Nebraska Attorney General’s Office Announces Two Settlements in Multistate Litigation against Generic Drug Manufacturers

Lincoln – Today, the Nebraska Attorney General’s Office announced that it has joined settlements with Defendants Heritage Pharmaceuticals and Apotex to resolve allegations that both companies engaged in widespread, long-running conspiracies to artificially inflate and manipulate prices for numerous generic prescription drugs in violation of federal and state antitrust laws.

The money from the two settlements, which totals $49.1 million nationally, will be distributed to settling states to reimburse consumers and state agencies that paid artificially high prices and to cover the costs of litigation.

As part of the settlements, Heritage and Apotex have agreed to cooperate in the ongoing litigation. Both companies have also agreed to a series of internal reforms to ensure compliance with the antitrust laws.

Nebraska consumers who purchased a generic prescription drug manufactured by either Heritage or Apotex between 2010 and 2018 may be eligible for compensation.

To determine your eligibility and to view a list of the drugs covered by the settlement, call 1-866-290-0182 (Toll-Free), email info@AGGenericDrugs.com, or visit www.AGGenericDrugs.com.

The investigation into generic drug price fixing began in 2016 when cooperating witnesses disclosed a conspiracy to inflate the prices of certain generic pharmaceuticals and illegally stifle competition.

These conspiracies were later confirmed in discovery through phone records and other documents detailing executives’ efforts to fix prices and allocate the market for generic drugs. Text messages and notes from a two-volume journal also revealed that corporate executives had been planning their schemes over luncheons, dinners, corporate golf outings, and cocktail parties.

The federal judge in Connecticut overseeing the litigation granted preliminary approval of the $10 million settlement earlier this week. The settlement with Apotex for $39.1 million will be finalized and filed in the near future. The settlements come as the states prepare for the first trial to be held in Hartford, Connecticut, sometime next year.                                   

States joining the settlements include Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, 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, and Wyoming.