Attorney generals from 45 states and Washington, D.C. moved to widen a lawsuit Tuesday that accuses generic drugmakers of collusion to fix prices, according to Reuters.
The initial lawsuit, first filed in December 2016, alleges a broad conspiracy by six large pharmaceutical companies to divvy up market share and set price increases to boost their profits. The original complaint targeted Mylan, Heritage, Teva Pharmaceuticals, AurobindoPharma USA, Citron Pharma and Mayne Pharma.
The expanded lawsuit accused 12 additional pharmaceutical companies and two individual drugmaker executives — Rijiv Malik, Mylan's president and executive director and Satish Mehta, CEO and managing director of Emcure Pharmacuticals, a parent company of Heritage Pharmaceuticals — of price-fixing.
"It is our belief that price-fixing is systematic, it is pervasive, and that a culture of collusion exists in the industry," said Connecticut AG George Jepsen, who is leading the case, according to Reuters.
Mylan said it found no evidence of price-fixing by the company or its employees and vowed to defend the allegations vigorously, according to the report.
"Mylan has deep faith in the integrity of its president, Rajiv Malik, and stands behind him fully," the company wrote in a statement.
Prosecutors Tuesday moved to add Actavis Holdco, Actavis Pharma, Acend Laboratories, Apotex Corp., Dr. Reddy's Laboratories, Emcure, Glenmark Pharmaceuticals, Lannett Pharmaceuticals, Par Pharmaceutical Co., Sandoz, Sun Pharmaceutical Industries and Zydus Pharmaceuticals.