New York Attorney General Letitia James today joined a bipartisan coalition of 49 other attorneys general in urging consumers to check their eligibility for compensation as part of a $39.1 million settlement they secured with generic drug manufacturer Apotex Corp. (Apotex) for its role in a massive, long-running scheme to inflate prices of generic drugs and reduce competition.  Attorney General James and the multistate coalition previously announced a settlement in principle with Apotex along with a $10 million settlement with Heritage Pharmaceuticals (Heritage).  The settlements are part of an ongoing multistate investigation into companies for prescription drug price fixing.  The companies in the scheme, some of which increased prices by 1,000 percent, manufactured essential medications to treat diseases ranging from diabetes to cancer to ADHD.

“When companies collude behind closed doors to raise prescription drug prices, they put everyday New Yorkers at serious risk,” said Attorney General James.  “The companies involved in this scheme inflated prices of vital medications used to treat everything from diabetes and heart conditions to cancer, and now we are holding them accountable.  I urge any New Yorker who may have been a victim of this scheme to check their eligibility and claim the restitution they are owed.”

New Yorkers who purchased a generic prescription drug listed here between May 2009 and December 2019 may be eligible for compensation.  To determine your eligibility, call 1-866-290-0182 (toll-free), e-mail info@AGGenericDrugs.com, or visit www.AGGenericDrugs.com.  The settlements are the result of three lawsuits filed by the Office of the Attorney General (OAG) and a coalition of attorneys general against some of the nation’s largest generic pharmaceutical companies.  The first complaint included Heritage and 17 other corporate defendants, two individual defendants, and 15 generic drugs.  Two former executives from Heritage Pharmaceuticals, Jeffery Glazer and Jason Malek, have since entered into settlement agreements and are cooperating.  The second complaint was filed in 2019 against Teva Pharmaceuticals and 19 of the nation’s largest generic drug manufacturers.  The complaint names 16 individual senior executive defendants.  The third complaint, to be tried first, focuses on 80 topical generic drugs that account for billions of dollars of sales in the United States and names 26 corporate defendants and 10 individual defendants.  Six additional pharmaceutical executives have entered into settlement agreements with the coalition of attorneys general and have been cooperating to support the states’ claims in all three cases.  The lawsuits allege these companies engaged in a broad, coordinated, and systematic conspiracy to fix prices, avoid competition, and rig bids for more than 100 different generic drugs.  The companies maintained an interconnected web of industry executives where these competitors met with each other during industry dinners, "girls’ nights out," lunches, cocktail parties, and golf outings, and communicated via frequent telephone calls, emails, and text messages that sowed the seeds for their illegal agreements.  Defendants used terms like "fair share," "playing nice in the sandbox," and "responsible competitor" to describe how they unlawfully discouraged competition, raised prices, and enforced an ingrained culture of collusion.  The drugs included in the scheme span all types – including tablets, capsules, creams, and ointments – and classes – including antibiotics, anti-depressants, contraceptives, and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs.  They treat a range of diseases and conditions from basic infections to diabetes, cancer, epilepsy, multiple sclerosis, HIV, ADHD, and more.  In some instances, the coordinated price increases were over 1,000 percent.  For example, Digoxin, an essential heart medication manufactured by Heritage, tripled in price, causing patients to pay hundreds of dollars more for the drug.

In November 2024, Attorney General James announced the coalition of attorneys general had secured settlements with Apotex and Heritage.  As part of the settlement agreements, both Apotex and Heritage have agreed to cooperate in the ongoing multistate litigations against 30 corporate defendants and 25 individual executives.  Both companies have further agreed to injunctive relief to prevent future misconduct and a series of internal reforms to ensure fair competition and compliance with antitrust laws.  At the time of the announcement, the settlement with Apotex was conditioned on the signatures of all necessary states and territories.  Those signatures have been obtained, and the coalition is filing the settlement today in the U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut.  Joining Attorney General James in securing the settlements are the attorneys general of Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming, the District of Columbia, Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

These settlements are the latest example of Attorney General James taking action to stop companies from engaging in anticompetitive conduct and harming New Yorkers.  Earlier this month, Attorney General James won her case against ski resort owner Intermountain for illegally buying and shutting down a competitor.  Also in March, Attorney General James secured a settlement with the NCAA that will end its anticompetitive rules preventing student athletes from learning about name, image, and likeness compensation opportunities before committing to a school.  In January 2025 and December 2024, Attorney General James secured settlements stopping anticompetitive no-poach agreements in the building services industry.  In May 2024, Attorney General James joined 40 other states and the Department of Justice in suing Live Nation and Ticketmaster for monopolizing the live music industry.  New York’s investigation has been led by Assistant Attorneys General Bob Hubbard, Saami Zain, and Ben Cole, and Legal Assistant Arlene Leventhal of the Antitrust Bureau, under the supervision of Deputy Bureau Chief Amy McFarlane and Bureau Chief Elinor Hoffmann of the Antitrust Bureau.  The Antitrust Bureau is part of the Division for Economic Justice, overseen by Chief Deputy Attorney General Christopher D’Angelo and First Deputy Attorney General Jennifer Levy.