Court grants final approval to $44M+ generic drug price-fixing settlement

Update:

• A Pennsylvania federal court granted final approval for three generic drug makers to pay $44.4 million in combined settlements to end claims they engaged in price-fixing a number of medications. 
• On Oct. 15, U.S. District Judge Cynthia M. Rufe gave her final approval to the deals.
• In three separate settlements, Apotex Corp. agreed to pay around $30 million, Heritage Pharmaceuticals Ltd. agreed to pay $10 million and Breckenridge Pharmaceuticals Inc. agreed to pay $5 million to end the claims.
• The lawsuits alleged the drug companies were part of conspiracies to keep the prices of generic drugs artificially high. 

Generic drug price-fixing settlement overview: 

• Who: Generic drug makers Apotex Corp., Heritage Pharmaceuticals Ltd. and Breckenridge Pharmaceuticals Inc. agreed to a combined $45 million in settlements. 
• Why: The settlements were made to end claims the generic drug makers colluded to fix prices for a number of medications. 
• Where: The settlements result from a multidistrict litigation in Pennsylvania federal court.

(Jan. 29, 2024)

Three generic drug makers agreed to pay a combined $45 million in settlements to put an end to claims they engaged in price-fixing a number of medications. 

In three separate settlements, Apotex Corp. agreed to pay around $30 million, Heritage Pharmaceuticals Ltd. agreed to pay $10 million and Breckenridge Pharmaceuticals Inc. agreed to pay $5 million to end the claims. 

The settlement amounts could ultimately increase or decrease based on the number of class members who either make a claim to join or choose to opt out of the agreements, according to requests for preliminary approval of the deals. 

Apotex, Heritage and Breckenridge have also each agreed to provide information that will help in prosecuting other non-settling defendants involved in an ongoing multidistrict litigation, including Pfizer Inc., Mylan NV and Actavis PLC, among others. 

Generic drug makers MDL started in 2016 

Claims against the generic drug makers involved in the multidistrict litigation have come from a number of different sources, including direct buyers, resellers, consumers and state attorneys general, Law360 reports. The litigation began in 2016.

The Apotex, Heritage and Breckenridge settlements were made to compensate a class of all persons or entities that purchased a generic drug from one of the companies from between May 2009 and December 2019. 

Per the settlement agreements, Apotex could end up paying as much as $37 million and as little as $26.4 million; Heritage could pay as much as $12.5 million; and Breckenridge could pay as little as $4.3 million and as much as $6.1 million.

The federal judge overseeing the multidistrict litigation signed off last year on a combined $75 million settlement that put an end to price-fixing claims lobbied by direct purchasers against Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Inc. and Taro Pharmaceutical Industries USA Inc.

Have you been affected by drugmakers fixing the price of generic drugs? Let us know in the comments.

The Generic drug price-fixing settlement is In re: Generic Pharmaceuticals Pricing Antitrust Litigation, Case No. 2:16-md-02724, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

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