“What bothers me about this case is that these are regular people that appear to go to work every day at big companies and break the law,’’ he said. “It’s the regular everyday-ness of it that bothers me. It is just part of the routine in this industry, and it seems endemic and part and parcel of what they do.’’<doc-sep>Colorado is one of 44 states that filed a lawsuit Friday against generic drug manufacturers alleging they violated state and federal laws by conspiring to fix prices and stop competitors, resulting in generic drug costs significantly going up. The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Connecticut, alleges that 20 pharmaceutical companies — including Teva Pharmaceutical, Sandoz, Mylan and Pfizer — “embarked on one of the most egregious and damaging price-fixing conspiracies in the history of the United States.” Teva and other companies raised prices between July 2013 and January 2015 on about 112 generic drugs — some with price increases of more than 1,000 percent, according to the complaint. The lawsuit called it an overarching conspiracy that attempted to thwart competition in the generic drug industry and resulted in inflated drug prices. “This conduct has resulted in many billions of dollars of overcharges to the Plaintiff States and others, and has had a significant negative impact on our national health and economy,” the lawsuit stated. The state of Connecticut began investigating the skyrocketing drug prices, leading to the lawsuit and other states signing onto it. The lawsuit asks for a stop to the alleged illegal practices, civil penalties and an unspecified amount in damages. The companies coordinated with each other and systematically fixed prices, divided market shares and rigged bids for the drugs, according to the Colorado Attorney General’s Office in a news release. The inflated prices of the generic drugs encompassed various types of drugs used to treat numerous diseases, including basic infections, diabetes, cancer, epilepsy, multiple sclerosis, HIV, ADHD and others. “The conspiracy was wide-ranging and well-orchestrated, characterized by a number of blatant acts to cover up the agreement to limit competition between direct competitors,” the news release stated. A representative for Teva Pharmaceutical USA Inc. did not immediately return a request for comment Sunday. A spokesman for Teva, a subsidiary of Israeli-based Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd, told The Associated Press on Saturday that Teva refuted the allegations. “The allegations in this new complaint, and in the litigation more generally, are just that — allegations,” Kelley Dougherty, a Teva vice president, said in the statement to the AP. “The company delivers high-quality medicines to patients around the world and is committed to complying with all applicable laws and regulations in doing so.” Fifteen senior executives were also named in the lawsuit, which alleges that the executives knew what they were doing was unlawful — and tried to cover up communications — but continued to share pricing information and business plans, violating antitrust laws. “Many Coloradans are struggling to pay for the prescription drugs they need to treat disease or maintain their health. This complaint presents strong and convincing evidence about how the generic drug industry created and enforced a culture of collusion to perpetrate a multi-billion dollar fraud on consumers,” Weiser said in the release. He added that the companies need to be held accountable for their actions, and he called the case “breath-taking both on account of its impact on consumers and the brazen conduct undertaken by the defendants.” The news release cites a 2017 Colorado Health Access survey that noted more than 500,000 Colorado residents didn’t fill prescriptions that year because of costs. The inflated costs also affected Medicare and Medicaid, according to the release. Another lawsuit filed in 2016 in U.S. District Court in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania is also pending, and two former executives entered into settlement agreements.<doc-sep>
The bulk of the collusive activity occurred from July 2013 to January 2015, according to the complaint, when Teva raised prices on nearly 400 formulations of 112 generic drugs. A key element of the scheme, the complaint alleges, was an agreement among competitors to cooperate on pricing so each company could maintain a “fair share” of the generic drug markets. At the same time, the companies colluded to raise prices on as many drugs as possible, according to the complaint. Though the complaint paints Teva Pharmaceuticals USA, which is based in Pennsylvania, as a leader in the conspiracy, it describes the conduct as “pervasive and industrywide.” “Rather than enter a particular generic drug market by competing on price in order to gain market share,” the complaint states, “competitors in the generic drug industry would systematically and routinely communicate with one another directly, divvy up customers to create an artificial equilibrium in the market, and then maintain anticompetitively high prices.” Teva denied the allegations. “Teva continues to review the issue internally and has not engaged in any conduct that would lead to civil or criminal liability,” the company said in a statement. The Israeli drugmaker Teva Pharmaceutical Industries is one of the world’s largest manufacturers of generic medicines. The company faced criticism in February 2018 for charging $18,375 for a bottle of 100 pills for a rare medical condition known as Wilson disease. Mylan has also generated outrage for raising the price for a two-injection EpiPen set to over $600 from $100. The latest lawsuit comes as drug companies are already facing widespread scrutiny from lawmakers over drug prices.