Teva at the center of a lawsuit for raising drug prices
According to the Bloomberg news agency, more than a dozen present and former executives of leading generic companies have been sued.
By JERUSALEM POST STAFFSome 1,780 Jerusalemites are employed at the city’s two branches of Teva(photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM)
Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. is at the center of a conspiracy among other pharmaceutical drug-making companies for raising the prices for medicines, according to a lawsuit filed by more than 40 US states after a five-year investigation.According to Bloomberg news service, more than a dozen present and former executives have been sued in a price-fixing case, where companies fix prices among themselves, rather than compete. The lawsuit was filed 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 told Bloomberg. “We all wonder why our health care, and specifically the prices for generic prescription drugs, are so expensive in this country — this is a big reason why.”According to the lawsuit, the drug making companies inflated the prices of more than 100 different drugs. Furthermore, the lawsuit indicates that the companies conspired with one another to fix prices rather than create a competition between them.The complaint claims that Teva significantly raised its prices on about 112 different drugs between 2013 and 2015. Some of the increases were more than 1,000%.“Teva is a consistent participant in the conspiracies identified in this complaint, but the conduct is pervasive and industry-wide,” according to the complaint, which was filed in federal court in Connecticut, Bloomberg reported. “Through its senior-most executives and account managers, Teva participated in a wide-ranging series of restraints with more than a dozen generic drug manufacturers, all of whom knowingly and willingly participated.”Representatives for the companies didn’t respond to requests for comment.
