Humana Hits Generic Drugmakers With Price-Fixing Suit

Humana filed suit against Teva and 30 other generic drugmakers in a Pennsylvania federal court for allegedly conspiring to fix the prices of more than 100 generic drugs.

The 610-page complaint in the U.S. District Court for Eastern Pennsylvania alleges that the drugmakers predetermined market share, fixed prices and rigged bids on over 107 generics.

The generic manufacturers are accused of “routinely and systematically” communicating with each other to determine how much market share and which customers each was entitled to. They enforced this by refusing to bid for particular customers or by providing “outrageously high” cover bids, the suit alleges.

The complaint accuses Teva of selecting “high quality competitors” with which it had existing relationships and targeting drugs that overlapped with those of the competitors. UnitedHealth made the same allegations in a separate suit.