Pricing problems: Aurobindo Pharma, Sun Pharma, Lupin named in lawsuit in US

Aurobindo Pharma, Sun Pharma and Lupin are among the 26 drug makers facing a multi-state lawsuit filed in USA by Maryland Attorney General for alleged “conspiracy to artificially inflate and manipulate prices, reduce competition, and unreasonably restrain trade for generic drugs sold across the United States.”

Attorney General Brian E Frosh in a statement issued on Wednesday said the new complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut, focuses on 80 topical generic drugs that account for billions of dollars of sales in the United States and the complaint names 26 corporate defendants and 10 individual defendants.

The lawsuit seeks damages, civil penalties, and actions by the court to restore competition to the generic drug market.

In addition to Maryland, the suit was joined by the attorneys general of all the other states in the USA.

“This complaint shows again a tangled web of industry executives and sales people who met with each other on social outings and at trade shows, and had conversations that laid the groundwork for the illegal agreements. Their price-fixing schemes cost patients, the State of Maryland and health insurance companies billions of dollars in unnecessary health care expenditures,” Frosh said.

The complaint is the third to be filed in an ongoing investigation that is possibly the largest domestic corporate cartel case in the history of the United States, the statement said.