5 Indian pharmas mentioned in price fixing lawsuit in US
The names of several Indian generic makers were disclosed in a US Pharma anti-trust lawsuit.
The US state of Connecticut has been at the forefront of an investigation pertaining to a major anti-trust lawsuit over price cartelization concerning 18 generic pharma companies. This is quite possibly the largest cartel case in the history of the U.S. Of these companies, 5 are Indian and these include Aurobindo, Dr. Reddy’s, Emcure, Glenmark and Zydus.
The initials and titles of implicated individuals, along with the industry code words, were made public. Furthermore, even the emails from drug companies containing conspicuous strategic discussions regarding the violation of federal and state anti-trust laws were uncovered.
Apart from the aforementioned Indian companies, some other pharma companies who were named include Apotex, Teva, Heritage Pharma and Par Pharma.
The allegations made by the state of Connecticut suggest that the drug companies conspired to fix prices and allocate customers with the intention of inflating prices, arresting competition and unreasonably restrain trade for 15 separate generic drugs.
This has caused the prices of generic drugs to reach astronomical heights and American consumers are bearing the brunt of it.
On Thursday, the shares of Aurobindo Pharma opened at Rs. 792.00 and hit a high and low of Rs. 796.90 and Rs. 775.50, respectively. At 12:40 pm, the stock was trading at Rs. 779.20, down 1.33 per cent.
Meanwhile, the shares of Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories opened at Rs. 2,766.05 and hit a high and low of Rs. 2,800.00 and Rs. 2,758.80, respectively. At 12:40 pm, the stock was trading at Rs. 2,797.35, up 1.22 per cent.
The stock of Glenmark Pharmaceuticals opened at Rs. 648.80 and hit a high and low of Rs. 652.20 and Rs. 646.55, respectively. At 12:42 pm, the stock was trading at Rs. 649.60, down 0.15 per cent.
On the other hand, the shares of Zydus Wellness Ltd. opened at Rs. 1,315.75 and hit a high and low of Rs. 1,315.75 and Rs. 1,308.55, respectively. At 12:43 pm, the stock was trading at Rs. 1,309.00, up 0.20 per cent.