Glenmark Pharmaceuticals was charged in a $200 million scheme with fixing prices for generic drugs.
The Mumbai, India-based drugmaker allegedly conspired with other generic drugmakers, including Apotex, to increase and maintain prices of pravastatin and other generic drugs from May 2013 until at least December 2015, the U.S. Department of Justice said. Pravastatin is a cholesterol drug used to prevent heart attacks and strokes.
The Justice Department alleged the scheme allowed conspirators to gain at least $200 million.
A Glenmark spokesperson told Politico: "We strongly disagree with the continued allegations being advanced by the Justice Department that persist after months of providing abundant evidence demonstrating that there is no justification for Glenmark to be part of their investigation. These allegations run contrary to the very essence of Glenmark — to drive down drug prices and improve patient access to medications. We will continue to vigorously defend against these allegations that we know to be false, and we are confident the overwhelming evidence will make that clear."
Glenmark is the fifth generic drugmaker to be charged in the last 13 months in connection to antitrust violations. In May, Apotex agreed to pay $24 million after admitting it had conspired with other companies to fix prices of pravastatin.
Read the Justice Department's full news release here.