Biggest Cartel In U.S. History Is Defendant In Anti-Trust Suit

Two years ago 20 state attorneys general filed a federal antitrust suit, accusing six generic drug makers of artificially inflating and manipulating prices to reduce competition for an antibiotic and an oral diabetes medication. Connecticut Atty. Gen. George Jepsen called Heritage Pharmaceuticals “the principal architect of the conspiracies” but said he had evidence of widespread participation in illegal conspiracies across the generic drug industry. Now the suit has expanded into an investigation of alleged price-fixing involving at least 16 companies and 300 drugs, in what is characterized as the “largest cartel in U.S. history.” Executives of the defendant companies apparently devised a coded way of discussing the nuts and bolts of price-fixing, referring to the market for generic prescription drugs, as “the sandbox” (because they were expected to play nicely with each other), and accusing competitors who undercut them of “trashing the market.” In November a federal judge ruled that more than 1 million emails, cellphone texts and other documents cited as evidence could be shared among the plaintiffs.