Democratic Primaries
Related: About this forumprimary today, I would vote for: Undecided
CaliforniaPeggy
(149,525 posts)Most notably on The PBS Newshour.
I hope the investigators can bring these miscreants to justice.
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
George II
(67,782 posts)He's doing something, he filed suit early in May. Has Sanders done anything yet?
https://portal.ct.gov/AG/Press-Releases/2019-Press-Releases/TONG-LEADS-LAWSUIT-AGAINST-GENERIC-DRUG-MANUFACTURERS-IN-CONSPIRACY-TO-FIX-PRICES-FOR-OVER-100-DRUGS
05/12/2019
ATTORNEY GENERAL TONG LEADS 44-STATE COALITION IN ANTITRUST LAWSUIT AGAINST TEVA PHARMACEUTICALS, 19 OTHER GENERIC DRUG MANUFACTURERS, 15 INDIVIDUALS IN CONSPIRACY TO FIX PRICES AND ALLOCATE MARKETS FOR MORE THAN 100 DIFFERENT GENERIC DRUGS
Second Lawsuit Filed in Ongoing, Expanding Investigation
(Hartford, CT) Attorney General William Tong led a 44-state coalition in announcing a lawsuit against Teva Pharmaceuticals and 19 of the nation's largest generic drug manufacturers alleging a broad conspiracy to artificially inflate and manipulate prices, reduce competition and unreasonably restrain trade for more than 100 different generic drugs. The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut, also names 15 individual senior executive defendants at the heart of the conspiracy who were responsible for sales, marketing, pricing and operations. The drugs at issue account for billions of dollars of sales in the United States, and the alleged schemes increased prices affecting the health insurance market, taxpayer-funded healthcare programs like Medicare and Medicaid, and individuals who must pay artificially-inflated prices for their prescriptions drugs.
The complaint alleges that Teva, Sandoz, Mylan, Pfizer and 16 other generic drug manufacturers engaged in a broad, coordinated and systematic campaign to conspire with each other to fix prices, allocate markets and rig bids for more than 100 different generic drugs. The drugs span all types, including tablets, capsules, suspensions, creams, gels, ointments, and classes, including statins, ace inhibitors, beta blockers, antibiotics, anti-depressants, contraceptives, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, and treat a range of diseases and conditions from basic infections to diabetes, cancer, epilepsy, multiple sclerosis, HIV, ADHD, and more. In some instances, the coordinated price increases were over 1,000 percent.
The complaint lays out an interconnected web of industry executives where these competitors met with each other during industry dinners, "girls nights out", lunches, cocktail parties, golf outings and communicated via frequent telephone calls, emails and text messages that sowed the seeds for their illegal agreements. Throughout the complaint, defendants use terms like "fair share," "playing nice in the sandbox," and "responsible competitor" to describe how they unlawfully discouraged competition, raised prices and enforced an ingrained culture of collusion.
The lawsuit seeks damages, civil penalties and actions by the court to restore competition to the generic drug market.
"We have hard evidence that shows the generic drug industry perpetrated a multi-billion dollar fraud on the American people. We have emails, text messages, telephone records, and former company insiders that we believe will prove a multi-year conspiracy to fix prices and divide market share for huge numbers of generic drugs. These are drugs that people in this country rely on every day for acute and chronic conditions and diseases from diabetes and cancer to depression and arthritis. We all wonder why our healthcare, and specifically the prices for generic prescription drugs, are so expensive in this countrythis is a big reason why. This investigation is still in its early stages. We will not stop until these companies and the individuals who orchestrated these schemes are held accountable," said Attorney General William Tong.
The complaint is the second to be filed in an ongoing, expanding investigation that the Connecticut Office of the Attorney General has referred to as possibly the largest cartel case in the history of the United States. The first complaint, still pending in U.S. District Court in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, was filed in 2016 and now includes 18 corporate defendants, two individual defendants, and 15 generic drugs. Two former executives from Heritage Pharmaceuticals, Jeffery Glazer and Jason Malek, have entered into settlement agreements and are cooperating with the Attorneys General working group in that case.
In addition to Connecticut, Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin and Puerto Rico joined the suit.
Assistant Attorneys General Joseph Nielsen, Laura Martella, Antonia Conti, Rachel Davis, Cynthia Courtney and Christine Miller; Paralegal Holly McDonald and Gaile Colaresi; and Assistant Attorney General Michael Cole, chief of the Antitrust and Government Program Fraud Department, are assisting the Attorney General with this matter.
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
He noticed someone else's work and glommed onto it as if his own. Has that playbook down.
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
CDerekGo
(507 posts)How about just LOWERING THE DAMN PRICES!
primary today, I would vote for: Undecided
lark
(23,065 posts)Of course, they will get a huge slice of the pie to do this and it will be upfront, but they will stop it because nothing good is allowed to happen for the working class as long as he's in power and he intends that for the rest of his life with Ivanka taking over upon his death. PUtin promised him this and the demented stupid orange assmouth totally believes him.
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
Farmer-Rick
(10,139 posts)They could have had both if not for the greed of the drug corporations.
Capitalism functioning like capitalism functions.
primary today, I would vote for: Undecided
zentrum
(9,865 posts).....Bernie is a Millionaire!
<Sarcasm>
primary today, I would vote for: Undecided
we can do it
(12,173 posts)primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
primary today, I would vote for: Undecided
Nitram
(22,768 posts)primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
BaileyBill
(171 posts)primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
George II
(67,782 posts)Arkansas
California
Georgia
New Hampshire
South Dakota
Texas
Wyoming
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
3Hotdogs
(12,330 posts)I know Booker did.
primary today, I would vote for: Undecided