Apotex and Heritage Pharmaceuticals, generic drug manufacturers, recently agreed to pay $49.1 million to resolve antitrust allegations put forth by several states that accused the companies of conspiring to artificially inflate their prices. Heritage, a subsidiary of India’s Emcure Pharmaceuticals, and Apotex agreed to further cooperate with ongoing litigation against other drug manufacturers that are accused of also participating in the price-fixing scheme.
Connecticut Attorney general William Tong, who has been leading the investigation, has said his office will ask a federal court to approve the settlement amounts: $10 million for Heritage and $39.1 million for Apotex.
The litigation stems from a series of investigations that collected evidence from cooperating witnesses, a database of more than 20 million documents, and a phone records database containing millions of call detail records and contact information for more than 600 sales and pricing individuals in the generics industry. Each complaint involved in the multidistrict litigation addresses a different set of drugs and defendants, and outlines out an interconnected web of industry executives where the competitors met with each other during industry dinners and lunches, cocktail parties, golf outings, and communicated via frequent telephone calls, emails and text messages.
The states alleged Heritage was a leading maker in the market for Leflunomide, used to treat rheumatoid arthritis. Apotex and Teva were two of Heritage’s main competitors. By engaging in “widespread, long-running conspiracies to artificially inflate and manipulate prices, reduce competition, and unreasonably restrain trade with regard to numerous generic prescription drugs,” generic drugmakers “unlawfully discouraged competition, raised prices, and enforced an ingrained culture of collusion.”
On top of the settlement amounts, the companies have agreed to a series of internal reforms to ensure fair competition and compliance with antitrust laws.
“Heritage and Apotex both participated in widespread conspiracies to jack up prices and block competition for generic prescription drugs. Their brazen collusion cost American families and our public healthcare programs millions of dollars. Both companies are now cooperating with our ongoing litigation, and we are very confident in our case heading toward our first trial in Connecticut,” said Attorney General Tong.
As alluded to above, multidistrict litigation is set to continue regarding other companies, with the first trial likely moving forward in 2026 with 26 corporate defendants – including Teva, Pfizer, and Sun Pharmaceuticals – and 10 individual defendants.