Alabama is one of more than 40 states to have filed a suit against a host of drug makers accusing them of artificially inflating and manipulating prices and conspiring to reduce competition.
The suit is 510 pages and is against 20 drug companies, including Teva Pharmaceuticals, alleging that the producers conspired to raise prices. These prices were sometimes raised by as much as 1000 percent on more than 80 drugs between July 2013 and January 2015.
A complete list of the states filing the suits and the drug makers can be found here.
The suit was led by Connecticut Attorney General William Tong. “We have hard evidence that shows the generic drug industry perpetrated a multi-billion dollar fraud on the American people,” Tong said. He also stated that they have records showing communication to prove this multi-year conspiracy to fix prices and to divide market share for huge numbers of these generic drugs. “… We all wonder why our healthcare, and specifically the prices for generic prescription drugs, are so expensive in this country- this is a big reason why.”
Drugs involved in the suit cover all classes, including statins, ace inhibitors, beta blockers, antibiotics, anti-depressants, contraceptives, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, and a range of diseases and conditions from basic infections to diabetes, cancer, epilepsy, multiple sclerosis, HIV, ADHD, and more. In a statement, a representative of Teva USA denied the allegations.
The suit, which was filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, also named 15 individual senior executive defendants prosecutors allege were responsible for the sales, marketing, pricing and options.