Lawyer Monthly - November 2021 Edition

through mandatory rebates. The Congressional Budget Office found that Medicare paid twice as much for some specialty drugs than Medicaid. In 2017, the State of Maryland passed a law that would have prohibited generic drug manufacturers from raising prices in a manner deemed to be “unconscionable” by the state and applied to generic or off-patent drug makers that manufacture a medicine also made by at least three other firms. The Circuit Court of Appeals nullified the law when the Fourth Circuit held that the law was unconstitutional or regulating commerce beyond the borders of Maryland. Other states have all failed, or have not successfully passed, similar legislation in their states. Pending litigation Today, there are numerous complaints on file from various plaintiff-groups seeking damages from the increased prices of generic pharmaceuticals, including a now 50-state coalition. In May of 2019, a wide-ranging lawsuit was filed in the US by 44 states, claiming price fixing for dozens of widely used generic pharmaceuticals. Defendants include manufacturers and marketers of generic pharmaceuticals, including major companies such as Sandoz, Actavis/Allergan, Greenstone/Pfizer, Fougera, Impax, Endo/Par, Perrigo and Teva, and smaller companies like Heritage and Glenmark. Today’s actions include over 44 WWW.LAWYER-MONTHLY.COM | NOV 2021 EXPERT INSIGHT In May of 2019, a wide-ranging lawsuit was led in the US by 44 states, claiming price xing for dozens of widely used generic pharmaceu- ticals. 400 drugs at issue and plead facts alleging an industry-wide conspiracy to continue to raise the price of generic pharmaceuticals. Evidence shows competing drug companies were in constant communication prior to price increases, such as making phone calls in which prices went up soon after. These cases are proceeding in a Multi-District Litigation (MDL) currently pending in federal court in Philadelphia. As part of that litigation, two high- ranking Heritage Pharmaceuticals executives pleaded guilty to fixing generic drug prices. Heritage paid $7 million in criminal penalty and civil damages and agreed to cooperate with an ongoing Department of Justice investigation into this matter. That investigation now includes over a dozen