Attorneys general from more than 40 states allege the nation’s largest generic drug manufacturers conspired to artificially inflate and manipulate prices.
Attorneys general from more than 40 states are alleging the nation’s largest generic drug manufacturers conspired to artificially inflate and manipulate prices for more than 100 different generic drugs, including treatments for diabetes, cancer, arthritis and other medical conditions.
The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Connecticut, also names 15 individual senior executives responsible for sales, marketing and pricing.
Connecticut Atty. Gen. William Tong, a Democrat, said investigators obtained evidence implicating 20 firms.
«We have hard evidence that shows the generic drug industry perpetrated a multibillion-dollar fraud on the American people,» Tong said. «We have emails, text messages, telephone records and former company insiders that we believe will prove a multiyear conspiracy to fix prices and divide market share for huge numbers of generic drugs.»
Tong said the investigation had uncovered a primary reason why the cost of healthcare — and specifically generic prescription drugs — has been so high in this country.
The surging prices of prescription drugs have drawn the attention of a number of politicians across the political spectrum from President Trump to liberal Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts.
The lawsuit, filed Friday, was the second that has been filed in the investigation. The first, filed in 2016, named 18 corporate defendants and two individual defendants.
