Attorney General Brown Urges Consumers to Claim Compensation for Inflated Generic Drug Prices
Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown is urging consumers to check whether they qualify for compensation from settlements involving generic drug manufacturers. A federal court has given preliminary approval to a plan to distribute about $96.5 million in settlement funds from Glenmark, Lannett, Bausch, Apotex and Heritage Pharmaceuticals, along with Heritage’s parent company, Emcure. Consumers who purchased certain generic drugs between May 2009 and December 2019 may be eligible for compensation. A list of qualifying drugs and information on how to file a claim is available through the settlement website.
Additional Information from the Maryland Office of the Attorney General:
Attorney General Anthony G. Brown is urging consumers to check their eligibility for compensation for certain generic drug purchases and to submit a claim for compensation here. This month, the U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut granted preliminary approval of an allocation plan, filed by Maryland and a coalition of 47 other states and territories, to distribute settlement funds paid by generic drug manufacturers to settle of claims that they unlawfully conspired to raise the prices of generic drugs.
The coalition previously announced settlements with the manufacturers Glenmark, Lannett, Bausch, Apotex, Heritage, and Heritage’s parent company, Emcure, totaling approximately $96.5 million. The multistate coalition’s distribution plan aims to return millions of dollars from those settlement funds to those harmed by the elevated prices of the generic drugs that are the subjects of those settlements.
If you purchased a generic drug listed here between May 2009 and December 2019, 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.
“These drug companies unlawfully conspired to drive up the price of generic drugs, forcing Marylanders to pay more for medications they depend on,” said Attorney General Brown. “My Office is urging everyone who purchased one of these drugs to check their eligibility for compensation under each of these settlements.”
Maryland is part of a coalition of nearly all states and territories engaged in a series of antitrust cases, starting first in 2016. The first complaint included Heritage and 17 other corporate defendants, two individual defendants, and 15 generic drugs. The second complaint was filed in 2019 against Teva Pharmaceuticals and 21 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. The States filed a fourth complaint earlier this year, alleging that Novartis AG, Sandoz Group AG and Sandoz AG, are liable for Sandoz’s alleged conduct and for fraudulently transferring assets. Seven pharmaceutical executives have been cooperating to support the States’ claims in these cases.
The above-mentioned cases stem from a series of investigations built on evidence from several cooperating witnesses at the core of the different conspiracies, millions of documents, and a massive phone record data base. Each complaint addresses a different set of drugs and defendants and lays out an interconnected web of competing industry executives who regularly met and communicated with each other, providing ample opportunity to form unlawful agreements. The complaints note that defendants used terms like “fair share,” “playing nice in the sandbox,” and “responsible competitor” to unlawfully discourage competition, raise prices, and enforce an ingrained culture of collusion.
Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Northern Mariana Islands, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, U.S. Virgin Islands, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming joined in today’s announcement.