In this large multidistrict litigation, Berman Tabacco was retained by a Taft-Hartley fund and represents a putative class of end-payer plaintiffs pursuing price-fixing claims against some of this country’s largest generic drug manufacturers. Plaintiffs allege that defendants—over thirty generic drug manufacturers—conspired to fix prices, allocate customers, and rig bids for certain generic drugs in violation of the Sherman Act of 1890, as well as state antitrust and consumer protection laws. The case, which is one of the largest multidistrict antitrust class actions ever litigated, alleges price-fixing claims for over 130 drugs. The ongoing criminal investigation into the price-fixing scheme has led to two former executives at Heritage Pharmaceuticals—Jeffrey Glazer and Jason Malek—pleading guilty to price fixing charges for manipulating generic drug prices. Heritage was also charged by the Department of Justice (“DOJ”) for its involvement in the price-fixing conspiracy and entered into a deferred prosecution agreement with the DOJ’s Antitrust Division. Most recently, on December 3, 2019, the DOJ reported that Rising Pharmaceuticals, Inc. likewise entered into a deferred prosecution agreement under which the company admitted to conspiring to fix prices and allocate customers for Benazepril HCTZ. In addition to end-payer plaintiffs, civil actions have been filed by a group of forty-seven state attorneys general, along with those from Washington, D.C. and Puerto Rico, direct-action plaintiffs, direct-purchaser plaintiffs, and indirect-reseller plaintiffs alleging similar antitrust violations by drug manufacturers.
