Colorado is one of 44 states that filed a lawsuit Friday against generic drug manufacturers alleging they violated state and federal laws by conspiring to fix prices and stop competitors, resulting in generic drug costs significantly going up.
The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Connecticut, alleges that 20 pharmaceutical companies — including Teva Pharmaceutical, Sandoz, Mylan and Pfizer — “embarked on one of the most egregious and damaging price-fixing conspiracies in the history of the United States.”
Teva and other companies raised prices between July 2013 and January 2015 on about 112 generic drugs — some with price increases of more than 1,000 percent, according to the complaint. The lawsuit called it an overarching conspiracy that attempted to thwart competition in the generic drug industry and resulted in inflated drug prices.
“This conduct has resulted in many billions of dollars of overcharges to the Plaintiff States and others, and has had a significant negative impact on our national health and economy,” the lawsuit stated.
The state of Connecticut began investigating the skyrocketing drug prices, leading to the lawsuit and other states signing onto it.