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West Virginia, other states seek to expand generic drugs lawsuit

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Mylan President and Executive Director Rajiv Malik is now named in an ongoing civil lawsuit by 45 states and the District of Columbia that alleges companies colluded to drive up the cost of generic drugs.

Malik is one of two senior executives that are part of an expanded complaint announced by the states Tuesday.

West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey said the states are following the evidence.

WV Attorney General Patrick Morrisey

“With matters like these when you start to see alleged collusion occur in different parts of the market place you want to examine the other parts as well and that’s what we’ve been doing here,” Morrisey said.

MORE Read expanded complaint here

The evidence, according to Morrisey, comes from employees at various companies who were being directed by higher-ups like Malik.

“The complaint alleges that these individuals were directly involved in developing the illegal agreement and taking specific steps to insure it was executed by their subordinates and that’s improper,” Morrisey said.

Mylan told Bloomberg it stood behind its president and would “defend this case vigorously.” The company said it has “deep faith in the integrity” of Malik.

The other executive named is Emcure Pharmaceuticals Chief Executive Officer Satish Mehta.

Connecticut Assistant Attorney General Joseph Nielsen told reporters Tuesday other drug company executives are under investigation.

Morrisey said the companies were fixing prices on generic drugs and making sure each competitor had its share of the market, which drove up the price of the generic drugs. ‘

“Generics really only compete on the basis of price. So if you have some collusion between the manufacturers on price, or who’s going to get market share for a particular drug for a particular region then you are going to see higher prices,” Morrisey said.

The expanded complaint now includes 18 generic drug manufacturers and 15 generic drugs. A federal judge would have to approve the expansion of the complaint.

The U.S. Justice Department’s criminal investigation into the alleged collusion, which has produced a handful of guilty pleas, is also continuing.





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