Antitrust

In Re: Generic Pharmaceuticals Pricing Antitrust Litigation, MDL No. 2724 (E.D. Pa.).

Lieff Cabraser represents AFCSME DC 37, a municipal union health and welfare fund headquartered in New York City, and other health and welfare funds covering tens of thousands of individuals in litigation alleging that various drug companies conspired to keep producers of generic versions of numerous drugs from competing against each other.

Beginning in February 2015, Lieff Cabraser conducted an extensive investigation into dramatic price increases of certain generic drugs. Lieff Cabraser worked alongside economists and industry experts and interviewed industry participants to evaluate possible misconduct. In December of 2016, Lieff Cabraser, with co-counsel, filed the first case alleging price-fixing of levothyroxine, the primary treatment for hypothyroidism, among the most widely prescribed drugs in the world.

Lieff Cabraser also played a significant role in similar litigation over the drug propranolol in the Southern District of New York. On May 19, 2017, founding Lieff Cabraser partner Elizabeth Cabraser was named to the End-Payer Plaintiffs’ Plaintiff Steering Committee.

Related generic drug price-fixing cases were consolidated into a Multi-District Litigation before the Honorable Cynthia M. Rufe in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania in 2016. Judge Rufe has since denied multiple rounds of motions to dismiss, and has allowed the plaintiffs’ allegations of an industry-wide “overarching conspiracy” to fix drug prices to proceed.  Substantial discovery has already taken place, and the litigation is ongoing.