TRENTON, N.J. — New Jersey Attorney General Jennifer Davenport is urging consumers who purchased certain generic drugs between May 2009 and December 2019 to check whether they are eligible for compensation from settlements involving generic drug manufacturers.
The U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut this month granted preliminary approval to a distribution plan filed by New Jersey and a coalition of 47 other states and territories. The plan involves settlement funds paid by generic drug manufacturers to resolve claims that the companies illegally conspired to raise generic drug prices.
The coalition previously announced settlements with Glenmark, Lannett, Bausch, Apotex, Heritage and Heritage’s parent company, Emcure, totaling approximately $96.5 million. New Jersey previously announced that its settlement with Glenmark resolved allegations that the company participated in a conspiracy to inflate and manipulate prices, reduce competition and restrain trade involving generic prescription drugs.
“These settlements should help consumers who are already facing out-of-control costs for prescription drugs,” said Attorney General Davenport. “We urge consumers to check online or call the hotline to see if they qualify to recover money they should not have had to pay.”
Consumers who purchased one of the eligible generic drugs between May 2009 and December 2019 may qualify for compensation.
Consumers can determine their eligibility and submit a claim by visiting AGGenericDrugs.com, calling 1-866-290-0182 toll-free or emailing info@AGGenericDrugs.com. The July Glenmark settlement announcement also directed potentially eligible consumers to the same website, phone number and email address.
New Jersey is part of a coalition of nearly all states and territories involved in a series of antitrust cases involving generic drug prices dating to 2016.
The first complaint included Heritage and 17 other corporate defendants, two individual defendants and 15 generic drugs. A second complaint was filed in 2019 against Teva Pharmaceuticals and 21 of the nation’s largest generic drug manufacturers and names 16 individual senior executive defendants.
A third complaint, which is scheduled to be tried first, focuses on 80 topical generic drugs accounting for billions of dollars in U.S. sales and names 26 corporate defendants and 10 individual defendants.
The states filed a fourth complaint earlier this year alleging Novartis AG, Sandoz Group AG and Sandoz AG are liable for Sandoz’s alleged conduct and for fraudulently transferring assets. Seven pharmaceutical executives have been cooperating with the states in the cases. New Jersey announced that complaint in February, alleging price fixing, market allocation and bid rigging involving generic drugs.
According to Davenport’s office, the cases grew out of investigations involving cooperating witnesses, millions of documents and phone records. The complaints allege competing industry executives regularly met and communicated with each other and used terms including “fair share,” “playing nice in the sandbox” and “responsible competitor” to discourage competition, raise prices and maintain collusion.
In addition to New Jersey, states and territories participating in the announcement include Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, the Northern Mariana Islands, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin and Wyoming.
