Dozens of US states sue 20 generic drug companies over “industry wide conspiracy” to drive up prices

Generic drug makers conspired to avoid competition and drive up the prices of more than a hundred common drugs, sometimes by more than 1000%, according to a major lawsuit filed by 43 US states and Puerto Rico.1

The “industry wide conspiracy” is the principal reason the promise of generics delivering affordable drugs to US patients has never materialised, according to Connecticut attorney general William Tong, who is leading the suit.

“We have hard evidence that shows the generic drug industry perpetrated a multi-billion dollar fraud on the American people,” he said, announcing the suit’s filing in a Connecticut federal court. “We have emails, text messages, telephone records, and former company insiders that we believe will prove a conspiracy to fix prices and divide market share for huge numbers of generic drugs.”

“These are drugs that people in this country rely on every day,” …