States sue drug companies for price fixing

sato's picture

44 U.S. States File Lawsuit Accusing 20 Drug Companies Of Conspiracy

This is front page of BBC news, but nowhere to be found on cnn, fox, msnbc, ny times, or forbes, and even on youtube there's only 1 news outlet covering it and it's a local one.

 

from BBC:

More than 40 US states have filed a lawsuit accusing pharmaceutical firms of conspiring to artificially inflate the cost of common medicinal drugs.

The lawsuit alleges that as many as 20 companies have been involved in fixing prices for over 100 drugs, including treatments for diabetes and cancer.

One of the firms accused is Teva Pharmaceuticals, the world's largest producer of generic medicine.

Teva, which has denied any wrongdoing, says it will defend its actions.

The legal action, which follows a five-year investigation, accuses drugs companies of involvement in a scheme to boost prices - in some cases by more than 1,000% - and was filed on Friday 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," Mr Tong said.

"We have emails, text messages, telephone records and former company insiders that we believe will prove a multi-year conspiracy to fix prices and divide market share for huge numbers of generic drugs."

A representative of Teva in the US said that the Israeli company "has not engaged in any conduct that would lead to civil or criminal liability", Reuters news agency reports.

The other 19 firms implicated in the lawsuit have yet to comment on the allegations.

Fifteen individuals were also named as defendants accused of overseeing the price-fixing scheme on a day-to-day basis.

According to the lawsuit, the drugs companies allegedly conspired to manipulate prices on dozens of medicines between July 2013 and January 2015.

It accuses Teva and others of "embarking on one of the most egregious and damaging price-fixing conspiracies in the history of the United States".

Mr Tong said the investigation had exposed why the cost of healthcare and prescription drugs was so high in the US.

5
Average: 5 (2 votes)

Comments

danmanjones's picture

Reuters & Bloomberg covered it, barely mentioning that Teva's an Israeli company. If it was a Chinese firm the coverage would blanket the news cycle 48 hours.

+1
0
-1
Vote comment up/down
daftcunt's picture
Discord userfront page

That is antisemitic and they know it. Shut up and give them their money!

+1
+1
-1
Vote comment up/down