CHARLESTON, W.Va. (WVDN) – West Virginia Attorney General JB McCuskey, along with a coalition of 48 states and territories, announced two settlements with prescription drug companies for widespread, long-running conspiracies to artificially inflate and manipulate prices, reduce competition, and unreasonably restrain trade with regard to numerous generic prescription drugs.
The settlements with Lannett Company, Inc. (“Lannett”) and Bausch Health US, LLC and Bausch Health Americas, Inc. (“Bausch”) total $17.85 million. As part of their settlement agreements, both companies have agreed to cooperate in the ongoing multistate litigations against 30 corporate defendants and 25 individual executives. Both companies have further agreed to a series of internal reforms to ensure fair competition and compliance with antitrust laws.
“Today’s settlement is part of a long-running and on-going investigation into illegal actions by prescription drug companies, which have left consumers paying more and more for the medicines they need. I am proud of the work being done by this bi-partisan coalition of attorneys general to go after companies that care more about their bottom line than the people they serve,” Attorney General McCuskey said.
The Lannett and Bausch settlements follow prior settlements with Apotex and Heritage which totaled $49.1 million.
If you purchased a generic prescription drug manufactured by either Lannett or Bausch 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.
Also, West Virginia joined a 42-state coalition led by Connecticut’s Attorney General to file a new lawsuit against Novartis and its generic subsidiary Sandoz alleging a systemic campaign to conspire with other generic manufacturers to fix prices, allocate markets and rig bids for 31 different generic drugs. The complaint further alleges that Novartis took steps to fraudulently transfer and drain assets from Sandoz and spin off Sandoz to shield Novartis from liability in the three previously filed state antitrust complaints against the company.
