Aetna has filed a lawsuit against 20 major pharmaceutical companies, accusing them of engaging in a broad price-fixing conspiracy that artificially inflated the prices of certain generic drugs.
The defendants named in the suit include Actavis, Amneal Pharmaceuticals, Apotex, Teva, Pfizer and Mylan, among others, who are alleged to have colluded to manipulate prices for widely used generic drugs over a period of several years, according to court documents obtained by Becker's.
According to the complaint, the defendants' actions resulted in significant overcharges to Aetna, which serves as a health benefit provider for millions of Americans. Aetna alleged that these price hikes — some exceeding 2,000% — were part of a wider conspiracy to restrict market competition and maintain inflated prices for generic drugs.
The lawsuit details how the companies coordinated the alleged conspiracy through meetings and communications at industry events, where they allegedly fixed prices and allocated market share to avoid competition.