Federal Judge Orders Propranolol Generic Price-Fixing Lawsuit to Proceed

A federal judge has ruled that a class-action antitrust lawsuit against several generics manufacturers, alleging price-fixing of propranolol capsules and tablets, can proceed in court.

Judge Jed Rakoff, for the District Court for the Southern District of New York, rejected two motions to dismiss the case filed by defendants Mylan, Teva, Heritage, Par, Upsher-Smith, Breckenridge and Actavis, as well as their subsidiaries.

The plaintiffs said members of the companies colluded to raise the prices of the beta blocker propranolol between 2013 and 2015. The blood pressure medication was approved in 1967. It is sold under the trade names Inderal, InnoPran and Hemangeol.

Actavis raised prices by more than 1,700 percent in one year, from $0.03 to $0.46 per tablet. Other companies raised prices by hundreds of percentage points around the same time.