Glenmark becomes fifth generic to be charged with US antitrust violations
Glenmark Pharmaceuticals has been charged with conspiring to fix prices for generic drugs, according to a statement released by the US Department of Justice.
The charge, filed in the US District Court in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on Tuesday, June 30, alleges that Glenmark conspired with other generic drug companies, including Apotex, to increase and maintain prices of pravastatin and other generic drugs between May 2013 and December 2015.
Glenmark is the fifth company to be charged over the last 13 months in connection with antitrust violations in the generic pharmaceutical industry.
Pravastatin is a prescription medication that reduces cholesterol, helping to prevent heart attacks and strokes. The charge alleges that the gain to the conspirators, and the loss to the victims, was at least $200 million.
The charge is a result of an ongoing federal antitrust investigation into market allocation, price-fixing, bid-rigging, and other anticompetitive conduct in the generic pharmaceutical industry, by the US Antitrust Division.
“By cheating through fixing prices, generic drug companies artificially raised prices even though prescription drug costs were already sky-high,” said the division’s assistant attorney general, Makan Delrahim.
Delrahim added: “As today’s charge shows, the Antitrust Division will not hesitate to charge these companies, and litigate where necessary, particularly where their crimes resulted in hundreds of millions of dollars in overcharges for life-saving medications.”