Compensation Offered for Inflated Generic Drug Prices

California Attorney General Rob Bonta is urging consumers to check their eligibility for compensation for certain generic drug purchases as California joins 50 states and territories in seeking preliminary approval of a $39.1 million settlement with generic drug manufacturer Apotex over conspiracy to inflate prices and limit competition.

Bonta previously announced the settlement in principle with Apotex last fall, along with a $10 million settlement with Heritage Pharmaceuticals. At the time of that announcement, the settlement with Apotex was conditioned on the signatures of all necessary states and territories. Those signatures have been obtained, and the coalition filed the settlement on March 26 in U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut.

“Today, I’m joining 50 states and territories in announcing a settlement that not only holds Apotex accountable, but also puts money back in Californians’ pockets," Bonta said. "If you purchased certain generic prescription drugs between May 2009 and December 2019, you may be eligible for compensation. To determine your eligibility, please visit http://www.AGGenericDrugs.com, call 1-866-290-0182 or email info@AGGenericDrugs.com.”

The compensation individuals receive will be determined on a case-by-case basis and depend on, among other things, how much money they spent on the drugs at issue.

The list includes:

• Baclofen tablets, used to treat muscle spasms.

• Budesonide inhalation, used to treat asthma.

• Carbamazepine ER tablets, used to treat seizures.

• Glyburide-metformin, a diabetes medication.

• Verapamil, used to treat high blood pressure.

• Warfarin, used to prevent blood clots.

The settlement agreements resolve allegations that both Apotex and Heritage engaged in widespread, long-running conspiracies to artificially inflate and manipulate prices, reduce competition, and unreasonably restrain trade with regard to numerous generic prescription drugs. 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 to a series of internal reforms to ensure fair competition and compliance with antitrust laws.

California is in a coalition of nearly all states and territories filing three antitrust complaints, starting first in 2016. The first complaint included Heritage and 17 other corporate defendants, two individual defendants, and 15 generic drugs.

The second complaint, which California joined in November 2024, was filed 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 states and have been cooperating to support the states’ claims in all three cases.

The cases all stem from a series of investigations built on evidence from several cooperating witnesses at the core of the different conspiracies, a massive document database of over 20 million documents, and a phone records database containing millions of call detail records and contact information for over 600 sales and pricing individuals in the generics industry.

Each complaint addresses a different set of drugs and defendants, and lays out 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, which sowed the seeds for their illegal agreements.

A complete list of generic prescription drugs part of the settlement can be found on The Good Life website, http://www.TheGoodLifeSV.com.