On September 30, 2022, Teva Pharmaceuticals, reached an agreement with Chris Carr, the Attorney General of Georgia, to settle the state’s price-fixing claims. Through the agreement, Teva will pay $3.346 million and the State of Georgia will dismiss all claims against Teva and its affiliates once payment has been made.
Additionally, as part of the settlement, Teva has agreed to “maintain its robust antitrust training and compliance efforts throughout the United States.”
Then, on October 7, 2022, Teva announced a $931,000 settlement with the State of Arkansas over similar price-fixing allegations. As was the case with Georgia, Arkansas will dismiss all claims against Teva and its affiliates once the payment has been made.
Background
The case goes back to 2019 when 44 states sued 20 generic drugmakers – including Teva – for price fixing within the markets. The lawsuit claimed that more than 100 drugs were impacted, including treatments for HIV, cancer, and multiple sclerosis.
Then, in the fall of 2020, federal prosecutors charged Teva with conspiring to fix prices for a variety of medicines from at least as early as May 2013 to at least in or around December 2015 as part of the industry-wide scheme. In that case, the Department of Justice (DOJ) alleged that the scheme cost consumers at least $350 million for drugs that treat conditions such brain cancer, cystic fibrosis, arthritis, and hypertension. Prosecutors indicted Teva on three counts of criminal conspiracy and acting as a “ringleader” for a group of drugmakers. Teva pleaded not guilty but other drugmakers did reach individual agreements with prosecutors.
Other State Settlements
This settlement with Georgia follows price-fixing litigation settlements with Mississippi and Louisiana. Alabama had also filed claims against several pharmaceutical companies – including Teva – but has since voluntarily dismissed them.
In a statement, Teva continued to deny any price-fixing allegations and reiterated its commitment and focus on “delivering high-quality medicines to the patients around the world who need them, while also working cooperatively with state regulators to resolve legacy litigation matters in the United States, including these cases as well as the opioids cases. We are discussing settlements of the price-fixing litigation with additional states in an effort to continue replicating these results.”
Earlier this year, following the Louisiana settlement, Law360 published an article that posited that Teva may wind up spending in the ballpark of $100 million if it continued to settle in a similar fashion with each state enforcer that had sued the company over price-fixing allegations.