CHARLESTON — West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey has joined 50 other AGs in a federal lawsuit filed against more than two dozen generic drug manufacturers alleging the companies and 10 senior executives conspired to unlawfully increase prices on some 80 topical prescriptions.
Those medications include some used to treat various skin conditions, pains and allergies. The AGs say the products involved account for billions of dollars in sales and include generic drugs common to many medicine cabinets, such as creams, gels, lotions, ointments, shampoos and solutions.
The 606-page complaint was filed June 10 in U.S. District Court in Connecticut.
“Those who manipulate prices and reduce competition increase the financial burden on families across West Virginia,” Morrisey said in a statement. “Generic drugs are a key aspect of affordable healthcare, and alleged actions such as these selfishly undermine the efforts of so many to keep prices affordable for those in desperate need of prescription drugs. Bad actors must be held accountable.”
The bipartisan lawsuit names generic drugmakers Taro, Perrigo, and Fougera (now Sandoz), along with Mylan Pharmaceuticals, 22 other corporate entities and 10 individual defendants.
Each defendant company stands accused of entering into unlawful agreements to minimize competition and raise prices on dozens of topical products. The lawsuit alleges longstanding agreements among manufacturers to ensure a “fair share” of the market for each competitor and prevent “price erosion” due to competition.
For perspective, the AGs say it is estimated that Taro, Perrigo and Fougera accounted for nearly two-thirds of all generic topical products prescribed nationwide from 2007 to 2014.
The lawsuit includes evidence from several cooperating witnesses, more than 20 million documents and millions of phone records, including call data and contact information for more than 600 sales and pricing individuals in the generics industry. That includes a two-volume notebook containing the contemporaneous notes of one cooperating witness. The AGs say those writings "memorialize the man’s discussions with competitors and internal meetings over a period of several years."
The lawsuit seeks damages, civil penalties and court action to restore competition to the generic drug market. The AGs from all states except California, South Dakota, Texas and Wyoming signed the Connecticut-led complaint, and they were joined by the AGs from the District of Columbia, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico and U.S. Virgin Islands.