The Utah Attorney General’s office, in collaborative efforts with the state’s Department of Commerce’s Division of Consumer Protection, announced a multimillion-dollar antitrust settlement that Utah has been involved in since 2016.
The multistate enforcement action was against Sandoz Inc., a global pharmaceutical company specializing in generic medicines and biosimilars. In the larger lawsuit that the settlement was connected to, state attorneys general accused the pharmaceutical company and others of price-fixing multiple generic drugs between 2009 and 2014.
Under the agreement, Sandoz is barred for five years from participating in price-fixing, bid-rigging or market-allocation practices and must continue its current antitrust compliance program. Consumers who bought generic medications at pharmacies or via mail order from 2009 to 2014 might be eligible for compensation.
“Utah will never stop pursuing justice for consumers against those who unlawfully inflate the price of potentially life-saving medication. We hope all affected Utahns will look into this settlement to determine if they can get any closer to being made whole in this price-fixing scheme,” Margaret Woolley Busse, executive director of the Utah Department of Commerce, said via press release.
Utah obtained $1.52 million in the latest settlement and could be entitled to additional compensation through a $275 million settlement reached earlier this year between Sandoz Inc. and end-payor plaintiffs.
Utah continues to litigate against the remaining defendants to hold them accountable and protect competitive pricing for essential medications.