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KY Adds Claim National Generic Pharmaceutical Companies Violated State Consumer Protection Laws

Kentucky Attorney General's Office

Attorney General Andy Beshear announced today that Kentucky has filed an amended complaint in its lawsuit alleging pharmaceutical companies have monopolized the generic drug markets.

The amended complaint claims the six generic drugmakers allegedly violated Kentucky’s consumer protection laws by entering into an illegal conspiracy to unreasonably restrain trade, artificially inflate and manipulate prices, and reduce competition in the United States for generic drugs.

​​​​​​​​​​​​​​The Kentucky Consumer Protection Act protects Kentuckians from “unfair, false, misleading or deceptive acts or practice in trade or commerce.” Kentucky’s consumer protections laws are some of the most vigorous in the nation.

The amended complaint also increases from 20 to 40 the number of states involved in the multistate lawsuit first announced by Beshear’s office in December.

The complaint alleges generic drugmakers Heritage Pharmaceuticals Inc., Aurobindo Pharma USA Inc., Citron Pharma LLC, Mayne Pharma (USA) Inc., Mylan Pharmaceuticals Inc. and Teva Pharmaceuticals USA Inc. routinely coordinated their schemes through direct interaction with their competitors at industry trade shows and customer conferences, as well as through direct email, phone and text message communications.

“Adding the protections of our state consumer protection laws will strengthen our case against these companies whose alleged actions constitute a massive conspiracy that has caused significant, harmful and continuing effects to Kentucky’s health care system,” Beshear said. “Like Kentucky, the 20 additional states understand that affordable health care and low-cost medicine for our seniors and families could not be more critical in our nation.”

The attorneys general in Indiana, Illinois, Ohio, Tennessee and Virginia are among the now 40 plaintiffs in the lawsuit.

Beshear and the other states are asking for a permanent injunction by the court preventing the companies from continuing their “illegal” conduct. The lawsuit asks the courts to demand the companies correct the anticompetitive effects caused by their conduct, and calls for repayment of the companies’ “ill-gotten gains,” along with civil penalties to the states.

In July 2014, the state of Connecticut initiated an investigation of the reasons behind suspicious price increases of certain generic pharmaceuticals. The ongoing investigation uncovered evidence of a broad, well-coordinated and long-running series of conspiracies to fix prices and allocate markets for a number of generic pharmaceuticals nationwide.  

One of Beshear’s core missions is to protect Kentucky families and seniors from those who seek to defraud them.

Story provided by: Kentucky.gov